• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.748-755
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• 2006

In this paper, a trade-off design and fabrication of IPMC(Ionic Polymer Metal Composites) as an actuator for a flapping device have been described. Experiments for the internal solvent loss of IPMCs have been conducted for various combinations of cation and solvent in order to find out the best combination of cation and solvent for minimal solvent loss and higher actuation force. From the experiments, it was found that IPMCs with heavy water as their solvent could operate longer. Relations between length/thickness and tip force of IPMCs were also quantitatively identified for the actuator design from the tip force measurement of 200, 400, 640, and $800{\mu}m$ thick IPMCs. All IPMCs thicker than $200{\mu}m$ were processed by casting $Nafion^{TM}$ solution. The shorter and thicker IPMCs tended to generate higher actuation force but lower actuation displacement. To improve surface conductivity and to minimize solvent evaporation due to electrically heated electrodes, gold was sputtered on both surfaces of the cast IPMCs by the Physical Vapor Deposition(PVD) process. For amplification of a short IPMC's small actuation displacement to a large flapping motion, a rack-and-pinion type hinge was used in the flapping device. An insect wing was attached to the IPMC flapping mechanism for its flapping test. In this test, the wing flapping device using the $800{\mu}m$ thick IPMC. could create around $10^{\circ}{\sim}85^{\circ}$ flapping angles and $0.5{\sim}15Hz$ flapping frequencies by applying $3{\sim|}4V$.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.981-990
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• 2004

Specialized propulsors for naval applications have numerous opportunities in terms of research, design and fabrication of an appropriate propulsor. One of the most important components of any propulsor is the actuator that provides the mode of locomotion. Ionomeric electro-active polymer may offer an attractive solution for locomotion of small propulsors. A common ionomeric electro-active polymer, ionic Polymer-Metal Composites (IPHCs) give large true bending deformations under low driving voltages, operate in aqueous environments, are capable of transduction and are relatively well understood. IPMC fabrication and operation are presented to further elucidate the use of the material for a propulsor. Various materials, including IPMCs, are investigated and a simplified propulsor model is explored.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.549-563
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• 2008

The ability of an electroactive polymer, IPMC (Ionic Polymer Metal Composites,) to produce electric charge under mechanical deformations may be exploited for the development of next generation of energy harvesters. Two different electrode types (gold and platinum) were employed for the experiments. The sample was tested under dynamic conditions, produced through programmed shaking. In order to evaluate the potential of IPMC for dry condition, these samples were treated with ionic liquid. Three modes of mechanical deformations (bending, tension and shear) were analyzed. Experimental results clearly indicate that IPMCs are attractive applicants for energy harvesting, with inherent advantages like flexibility, low cost, negligible maintenance and virtually infinite longevity. Besides, preliminary energy harvesting model of IPMC has been formulated based upon the work of previous investigators (Newbury 2002, Newbury and Leo 2002, Lee, et al. 2005, Konyo, et al. 2004) and the simulation results reciprocate experimental results within acceptable error.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.723-726
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• 2005

The two major obstacles in the application of IPMC to flapping actuators operated in the air are solvent loss and actuation force. In this paper, solvent loss of various IPMCs made of Nafion$^{TM}$117(183$\mu$m thickness) has been experimentally investigated to find out the best combination of cation and solvent for minimal solvent loss in IPMCs and higher actuation force. For this purpose. experiments for the internal solvent loss measurement of IMPCs have been conducted for various combinations of cation and solvent. From the experiments, it was found that heavy water showed improvement in the operating time up to more than two minutes. in the tip force measurement of IPMCs, it was found that smaller and thicker IPMCs produced larger tip forces. However, the shorter IPMCs generated reduced actuation displacements and created flapping motion with decreased natural frequency. For the design of flapping device actuated by 5mm wide, 10mm long, 0.2mm thick IPMCs were used in the stacked form. Since the actuation force is a few gram-force, we stacked five IPMCs to improve actuation force. To amply the actuation force, rack-and-pin ion type hinge was used for the flapping device and insect (Cicadidae) wing was attached to the stacked IPMC actuator. In the flapping test, the device could generate flapping angle of 15$^{\circ}$ at 6Hz excitation by 2.5 voltage square wave input.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.434-439
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• 2012

To improve the performance of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators, Nafion films sandwiched with Nafion/conducting nanoparticulate electrospun webs were used as polymer electrolytes of IPMC. Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) and silver were the conducting nanoparticulates and the nanoparticles dispersed in a Nafion solution were electrospun. IPMCs with the Nafion/conducting nanoparticulate electrospun webs displayed improved displacements, response rates, and blocking forces. MWNT was superior to silver in terms of displacement and blocking force, and the webs without the conducting fillers also caused enhanced performances compared with the conventional IPMCs. These improvements were attributed to an elevated electrolyte flux through highly porous interlayers and capacitance induced by well dispersed conducting fillers, and low interfacial resistance between electrolyte and electrodes.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.471-477
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• 2006

Ion exchange metal composite(IPMC) has toughness equivalent to the range of human's muscle, transformation-actuation force by relatively low voltage and the fast response time. Thus, as a new method for preparing thicker IPMC, the solution casting method to make the films of various thicknesses out of liquid nation was attempted in this study. To reduce the surface resistance of electrode, the first plated electrode prepared by Oguro method was replated with Au and Ir using ion beam assisted deposition(IBAD). The microstructures of electrode surfaces before and after IBAD plating were investigated using SEM. The change of water and ion-conductivity in IPMC were measured under applied voltage. The displacement and driving force of IPMCs with various thicknesses were measured to evaluate the driving properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.865-871
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• 2015

This study was conducted in order to develop a finger exoskeleton system using ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) as the actuator and sensor in a hybrid structure. To use the IPMC as an actuator producing large force, a first order transfer function was obtained using results from a block force for DC excitation that applied to two IPMCs of 20mm-width, 50mm-length, and 2.4mm thickness together. After which the validation of 200gf control with anti-windup PI controller was confirmed. A 5mm-width, 50mm-length, 0.6mm-thickness of IPMC was also modeled as a sensor for tip displacement. As a result, the IPMC sensor could been utilized as a trigger role for the actuator. Finally, an IPMC sensor and actuator were installed on the joint of a single DOF exoskeleton in the hybrid structure, and test for the control of 40gf of block force and predefined sequence of motion was performed.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1032-1038
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• 2009

A polypyrrole (PPy)/alumina composite filler prepared via in-situ polymerization of pyrrole on alumina particles was incorporated into $Nafion^{(R)}$ to improve the performance of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators. The IPMCs with the pristine PPy without alumina support did not show bending displacements superior to that of the bare Nafion-based IPMC, except at a high PPy content of 4 wt%. This result was attributed to the low redox efficiency of the PPy alone in the IPMC and may have also been related to the modulus of the IPMC. However, at the optimized filler contents, the cyclic displacement of the IPMCs bearing the PPy/alumina filler was 2.2 times larger than that of the bare Nafion-based IPMC under an applied AC potential of 3 Vat 1 Hz. Even under a low AC potential of 1.5 V at 1 Hz, the displacement of the PPy/alumina-based IPMCs was a viable level of performance for actuator applications and was 2.7 times higher than that of the conventional Nafion-based IPMC. The generated blocking force was also improved with the PPy/aiumina composite filler. The greatly enhanced performance and the low-voltage-operational characteristic of the IPMCs bearing the PPy/alumina filler were attributed to the synergic effects of the neighboring alumina moiety near the PPy moiety involving electrochemical redox reactions.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.586-590
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• 2006

As one of electro active polymers for soft smart materials, the ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) are easy to produce through chemical reduction processing and show high displacements at low voltage. When the IPMC actuates, the deformation depends on a few factors including the structure of based membrane, species and morphology of the metal electrodes, the nature of cations and the level of hydration. As previously published, we have been studying on improvement of actuation through surface electrode modification of IPMC to grasp the effect of electrode morphology on actuation. This study is comparative experiments through the chemical reaction and deposition by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) in order to prepare the very thin and homogeneous surface electrode of IPMC. The IPMCs were prepared with different surface roughness of polymer membrane, and the influence of the surface roughness on the actuation was studied. By investigating the electrical properties and driving displacement, the actuating properties of IPMC with different surface roughness were studied.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.380-384
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• 2005

Fluoroalkyl methacrylate and acrylic acid were bulk radical copolymerized in the presence of pure sodium montmorillonite or macromer intercalated sodium montmorilonite to get a fluorinated acrylic ionomer/sodium montmorillonite composite, and their physical properties, such as X-ray diffraction pattern, tensile properties, and water uptake, were examined. These composites were used to preparean ionic acrylic polymer-platinum composite (IPMC). The current and deformation responses of these IPMCs by external voltage applied across the platinum electrodes deposited on both sides of IPMC showed that the cation migration from anode to cathode was suppressed in the presence of sodium montmorillonite, causing reduced current and deformation.