Modeling of Fiber-Constrained Planar PVC Gel Actuators
Yi Li,
Xuxin Feng,
Lixiang Zhu,
Ziqian Zhang,
Mingfei Guo,
Zhixin Li,
Yanbiao Li,
Minoru Hashimoto
Affiliations
Yi Li
Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China
Xuxin Feng
Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China
Lixiang Zhu
Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China
Ziqian Zhang
Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China
Mingfei Guo
Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China
Zhixin Li
Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China
Yanbiao Li
Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China
Minoru Hashimoto
Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 3-15-1 Tokida, Ueda 386-8567, Japan
In recent years, plasticized poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) gel has attracted increasing attention in soft robotics. However, there is scarce research on the deformation mechanism and modeling of PVC gel actuators. In this study, to investigate the deformation mechanism of fiber-constrained planar PVC gel actuators, we propose a complex nonlinear model based on traditional thermodynamic electroactive polymer (EAP) multi-field coupling theory. The proposed model can reveal the dielectric breakdown strength of PVC gels and predict the deformation of planar PVC gel actuators with varying levels of pre-stretching. The theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental results, indicating the feasibility of the proposed model.
