Project Title:

Polymer Gel Actuators and Sensors

Principal Investigator:

Steven B. Leeb

Research Staff:

None provided

Sponsor:

None provided

Program Area:

Continuum Electromechanics

Duration:

None provided

Abstract:

We have begun to explore the practicality of fabricating actuators and sensors from polymer gels. A gel consists of a cross-linked network of polymers suspended in a liquid. A familiar example of a gel is the food product Jello, in which animal proteins create a polymer network immersed in flavored water. Under certain conditions, gels have been observed to undergo abrupt, reversible, discontinuous changes in volume. Changes in volume may be 1000-fold or more, and can be triggered by a variety of electrochemical conditions, including changes in temperature, solvent concentration around the gel, or pH. Volume change may also be initiated by the application of visible or invisible light, or by an electric field across a gel.

Gel actuators could be suitable for application in servomechanisms and sensors, ranging from microscopic (silicon) mechanisms to larger devices comparable in size and force density to biological systems. Polymer gel actuators could act, in theory, as synthetic muscles which provide direct linear motion quietly, swiftly, and with useful force densities. Manipulators which employ such actuators could be lightweight and exhibit an unprecedented flexibility and range of motion.

References and Links:

None provided

Publications:

None provided