Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Labrador, Daniel E.
Author's Email Address	del03@fsu.edu
URN	etd-07252010-234449
Title	Characterization of the Blocking Force Generated by Buckypaper Composite Actuators
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Richard Liang Committee Chair Chuck Zhang Committee Member William Oates Committee Member
Keywords	Nanotube Buckypaper Actuator Blocking Force Conductive Polymers
Date of Defense	2010-06-16
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Lightweight composite actuators with large bending displacement and high blocking force have great potentials for various engineering applications. Carbon nanotube thin film or Buckypaper-based composite actuators (BCAs) have been developed and tested in an open air environment to demonstrate their use as electromechanochemical actuation devices. The actuator is a bimorph structure fabricated with Nafion, a solid electrolyte layer capable of ion diffusion, sandwiched between two buckypaper (BP) electrode layers. Actuation mechanisms were studied, revealing that ionic current flow is the major actuation mechanism. To further improve actuation performance, Nafion doping has been studied. LiCl and Imidazolium (IL) solutions have been used to dope the Nafion and both cases have demonstrated substantial increases of BCA displacement. With the dimensions of the BCA held constant(30 mm × 5 mm × 0.07 mm), a non-doped BCA with a 3 V stimulation input at 200 mHz only can generate a total bilateral displacement of up to 0.09 mm; but LiCl-doped and IL-doped BCAs can produce ×100 and ×150 more displacement than that of the non-doped BCAs, respectively. The effect of driving voltages and frequencies with respect to displacement and blocking force generation of IL-doped BCAs were characterized. BCA thickness variation was introduced to evaluate the effect of the BCA structure on actuation performance. The improved BCAs have achieved a maximum strain and stress of 0.1% and 0.175 MPa, respectively. This is comparable to other polymer-based actuators. Finally, a preliminary model of BCA blocking force estimation was proposed to predict and further optimize the BCA actuation properties. The predicted results of the model are in agreement with the experimental data.
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