Abstract

Recently, researches on artificial muscles for imitating the functions of the natural muscles has attracted wide attention. The fiber-shape actuators, shape-memory materials or deforming devices, which are similar to human muscle fiber bundles, have extensively studied and provided more possibilities for artificial muscles. Herein, we develop a thermal responsible fiber-shaped actuator based on the low-cost hollow polyethylene fiber. The sheath-core structured fibrous actuators and the stainless-steel conductive yarn winded pre-stretched polyethylene actuators are fabricated with the heating assisted pre-stretching procedure. The actuation mechanism of the thermal-responsive orientation change of molecular chains driving the actuation is discussed and demonstrated by 2D XRD patterns. These polyethylene-based fibrous actuators displayed three significant advantages including (i) color-turning and shape-changing bifunctional response, (ii) direct joule heating actuation and (iii) effective contraction (18% shrinkage of the pristine length) and lifting ability (the ratio of lifting weight to self-weight is up to 50).

Graphic Abstract

中文翻译：

---

空心聚乙烯纤维基人造肌肉

摘要

近年来，关于模仿天然肌肉功能的人造肌肉的研究引起了广泛的关注。类似于人体肌肉纤维束的纤维形状致动器，形状记忆材料或变形装置已得到广泛研究，并为人造肌肉提供了更多可能性。本文中，我们基于低成本的中空聚乙烯纤维开发了一种对热负责的纤维状致动器。皮芯结构的纤维致动器和不锈钢导电丝缠绕的预拉伸聚乙烯致动器是通过加热辅助的预拉伸程序制成的。通过二维XRD图谱讨论并证明了驱动该分子链的热响应取向变化的驱动机理。

图形摘要