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Size of liquid metal particles influences actuation properties of a liquid crystal elastomer composite.
Soft Matter ( IF 2.9 ) Pub Date : 2020-05-11 , DOI: 10.1039/d0sm00278j
Michael J Ford 1 , Maduran Palaniswamy , Cedric P Ambulo , Taylor H Ware , Carmel Majidi
Affiliation  

Composites of liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) that are electrically conductive have the potential to function as soft “artificial muscle” actuators that can be reversibly stimulated with electrical Joule-heating. Conductivity can be achieved by embedding the LCE with droplets of an alloy of gallium and indium that is liquid at room temperature. These soft artificial muscles are capable of >50% reversible actuation with an applied load. The key to actuation at high loadings of liquid metal (LM) is that the droplets deform with the surrounding matrix. By controlling the size of LM droplets through simple processing techniques, we show that the actuator properties of the LM–LCE muscle can be tuned. For example, composites with smaller liquid metal particles (ca. 10 μm or less) are stiffer than those with larger liquid metal particles (ca. >100 μm) and are capable of greater force output. However, smaller particles reduce actuation strain and composites with large particles exhibit significantly greater stroke length. Such tunability in actuation properties permits the fabrication of specialized soft artificial muscles, where processing of the composite controls actuation strain and actuation force.

中文翻译:

液态金属颗粒的尺寸影响液晶弹性体复合材料的致动性能。

导电的液晶弹性体(LCE)复合材料有潜力充当柔软的“人造肌肉”致动器,可以通过电焦耳加热可逆地对其进行刺激。通过将LCE嵌入在室温下呈液态的镓和铟的合金液滴中,可以实现导电性。这些软的人造肌肉能够在施加负载的情况下实现> 50%的可逆驱动。在液态金属(LM)高负荷下进行驱动的关键在于,液滴会随着周围的基质变形。通过使用简单的处理技术控制LM液滴的大小,我们表明可以调节LM-LCE肌肉的致动器特性。例如,具有较小液态金属颗粒的复合材料(10μm或更小)比具有较大液态金属颗粒(大约> 100μm)的刚性更高,并且能够输出更大的力。但是,较小的颗粒会降低驱动应变,而具有较大颗粒的复合材料会表现出明显更大的行程长度。致动特性的这种可调性允许制造特殊的柔软人造肌肉,其中复合材料的加工控制致动应变和致动力。
更新日期:2020-07-01
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