A compliant continuum gripper powered by dielectric elastomers based on anisotropic bending stiffness caused by integrated textile materials

Publikation: Beitrag in Buch/Konferenzbericht/Sammelband/GutachtenBeitrag in KonferenzbandBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

Abstract

Electroactive polymers (EAP) and their related dielectric elastomers (DE) belong to a very performant and emerging class of functional materials. While being compliant and light-weight, they can be utilized to serve as integrated actuators for soft robotics. By combining EAP with the well-developed class of textile materials and their excellent capability to directly manipulate the local mechanical behavior of structures, compound materials with outstanding properties can be created. In this work a bending structure based on a fiber-elastomer compound is presented. By integrating uniaxially oriented carbon fibers under defined fiber angles in an elastomer matrix, a structure with highly anisotropic bending stiffness is achieved. By attaching dielectric layers with different pre-stretch ratios on both outer sides, an initial elastic stress state is introduced to the structure leading to an anisotropic bending deformation. An attached electrode to the outer side, together with an electrical connection of the textile layers to act as ground electrode, enables the dielectric layers to serve as driving element. Applying a voltage of up to 5000 V leads to an anisotropic bending deflection of up to 1.2 mm at the tips of the structure and 1 mm at the upper edge. Tailoring the geometrical conditions will enable the concept to serve as a gripping mechanism for arbitrarily shaped objets.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
TitelElectroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXIV
Redakteure/-innenIain A. Anderson, John D. W. Madden, Herbert R. Shea
Herausgeber (Verlag)SPIE - The international society for optics and photonics
ISBN (elektronisch)9781510649590
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 2022
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Publikationsreihe

ReiheProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Band12042
ISSN0277-786X

Konferenz

TitelElectroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices XXIV
KurztitelEAPAD 2022
Veranstaltungsnummer24
Dauer7 - 9 März 2022
OrtHilton Long Beach Hotel
StadtLong Beach
LandUSA/Vereinigte Staaten

Externe IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-7062-9598/work/174430576

Schlagworte

Schlagwörter

  • anisotropic bending, fiber-elastomer compounds, gripping mechanism, soft actuators, textile-integrated structures