Luo Bin, Zhong Yiding, Chen Hualing, Zhu Zicai, Wang Yanjie
State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
Polymers (Basel). 2021 Aug 15;13(16):2734. doi: 10.3390/polym13162734.
Electroactive PVC gel is a new artificial muscle material with good performance that can mimic the movement of biological muscle in an electric field. However, traditional manufacturing methods, such as casting, prevent the broad application of this promising material because they cannot achieve the integration of the PVC gel electrode and core layer, and at the same time, it is difficult to create complex and diverse structures. In this study, a multi-material, integrated direct writing method is proposed to fabricate corrugated PVC gel artificial muscle. Inks with suitable rheological properties were developed for printing four functional layers, including core layers, electrode layers, sacrificial layers, and insulating layers, with different characteristics. The curing conditions of the printed CNT/SMP inks under different applied conditions were also discussed. The structural parameters were optimized to improve the actuating performance of the PVC gel artificial muscle. The corrugated PVC gel with a span of 1.6 mm had the best actuating performance. Finally, we printed three layers of corrugated PVC gel artificial muscle with good actuating performance. The proposed method can help to solve the inherent shortcomings of traditional manufacturing methods of PVC gel actuators. The printed structures have potential applications in many fields, such as soft robotics and flexible electronic devices.
电活性聚氯乙烯凝胶是一种新型人工肌肉材料，性能良好，能在电场中模拟生物肌肉的运动。然而，传统制造方法，如浇铸，阻碍了这种有前景材料的广泛应用，因为它们无法实现聚氯乙烯凝胶电极与核心层的一体化，同时，难以制造复杂多样的结构。在本研究中，提出了一种多材料一体化直接书写方法来制造波纹状聚氯乙烯凝胶人工肌肉。开发了具有合适流变特性的墨水，用于印刷四种功能层，包括具有不同特性的核心层、电极层、牺牲层和绝缘层。还讨论了不同施加条件下印刷的碳纳米管/形状记忆聚合物墨水的固化条件。优化了结构参数以提高聚氯乙烯凝胶人工肌肉的驱动性能。跨度为1.6毫米的波纹状聚氯乙烯凝胶具有最佳驱动性能。最后，我们打印出了具有良好驱动性能的三层波纹状聚氯乙烯凝胶人工肌肉。所提出的方法有助于解决聚氯乙烯凝胶致动器传统制造方法的固有缺点。打印出的结构在许多领域具有潜在应用，如软机器人技术和柔性电子设备。
