Water Uptake and Migration Effect on IPMC(Ion-exchange Polymer Metal Composite) Actuator

초록

The low actuating voltage and quick bending responses of ion-exchange polymer metal composite(IPMC) are considered very attractive for the construction of various types of actuators. The principle of IPMC actuation under electric field has been nelieved to be the ion cluster flux and electro-osmotic drag of water from anode to cathode direction through the hypothetical hydrophilic channels in the perfluorinated sulfonic acid polymer chains.In this study, the effect of water content residing in the polymer was investigated in terms of CV(cyclic voltammetry) response, deformation, actuation force, resonance ferquency, and thickness of metal electrode. Using the classical lamination theory, a modeling methodology ws developed to predict the deformation, force, apparent modulus, and thickness effect of anisotropic IPMC thin plates. In this modeling methodology, the internal stress evolved by the insymmetric distribution of wter content inside IPMC was quantitatively calculated and furthermore the bending moment and the curvature were also estimated for various geometry of IPMC actuator. The model prediction and experimental results were compared well demonstrating the validity of the developed modeling methodology.