Low-Voltage Activating, Fast Responding Electro-thermal Actuator Based on Carbon Nanotube Film/PDMS Composites

Mohamed Amine Aouraghe; Zhou Mengjie; Yiping Qiu; Xu Fujun

doi:10.1007/s42765-020-00060-w

Advanced Fiber Materials ›› 2021, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (1) : 38 -46. DOI: 10.1007/s42765-020-00060-w

Research Article

Low-Voltage Activating, Fast Responding Electro-thermal Actuator Based on Carbon Nanotube Film/PDMS Composites

Author information +

¹Shanghai Key Laboratory of Lightweight Composite, Donghua University, 201620, Shanghai, China

²College of Textiles, Donghua University, 201620, Shanghai, China

^d fjxu@dhu.edu.cn

Mohamed Amine Aouraghe

received his M.S. degree in textile engineering at ENSAIT (France) in 2012. In parallel, he received an M.S. research degree in textile manufacturing process from Lille 1 university (France) in the same year. Now his a Ph.D. student at Donghua university, college of textile (China). His main scientific research is focused on electronic textiles and multifunctional composites material based on carbon nanotube film.

Zhou Mengjie

is a postgraduate student at the Donghua University. Her scientific research is focused on developing multifunctional soft actuator based on high conductive carbon nanotube film.

Yiping Qiu

received his B.S. degree in Textile Engineering at Zhejiang Science and Technology University in 1982, M.S. degree in Textile Science at Auburn University in 1988, and Ph.D. degree in Fiber Science at Cornell University in 1992. He then did his post-doctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Prof. Stanley Backer from 1992 – 1994. Afterwards, he worked as the Principal Materials Scientist in the Timberland Company, and an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University and North Carolina State University. In 2003 he joined College of Textiles at Donghua University as a University Titled Professor. He is the Executive Vice Chairman of Mainland China Region of the Society for Advancement of Material Processing and Engineering (SAMPE) and served as the Chairman of the Textile Engineering Division, American Society for Mechanical Engineers. In 2014, he was awarded SAMPE Fellow. He was a technical consultant for five American Companies, including P&G, PPG, and Corning Inc. and a technical expert witness for three US law firms. He finished research projects from NSF, NIH, and NTC of USA. After back to China, Prof. Qiu has received funding from National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, National Defense Basic Science Research Program, and Shanghai Pujiang Program as well as projects from number of domestic and international companies. He is serving as an editorial board member for Textile Research Journal, Journal of Industrial Textiles, Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, and Review of Adhesion and Adhesives. He has published more than 200 referred journal papers in peer-reviewed international journals and received one US patent and more than 100 Chinese patents. He has graduated more than 25 PhD students, and more than 70 MS students both in China and in the US.

Xu Fujun

received his B.S. degree in Department of Applied Physics in College of Science of Donghua University in 2005, then obtained the joint cultivated Ph.D. of Donghua University and North Carolina State University in 2011. Now his Professor and Vice Dean of College of Textiles, Donghua University. His main scientific interests include: Carbon Nanotube fiber/ yarn/ composites, high performance fiber/ fabric/composites; 3D Woven Fabrics/Composites. In the above fields, Prof. Xu has more than 80 peer-reviewed papers published in the journals of Adv. Mater.; ACS Nano; ACS.AMI; Compos. Sci. Technol; and possesses 45 Chinese invented Patents. Now Prof. Xu serves as Senior member of the China Institute of Composite Materials (2017-2020), and Editorial board members of the “Composites Part B: Engineering”; “Journal of Textile Science & Fashion Technology”; “International Journal of Materials Science”.

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Abstract

The electro-thermal actuators (ETA) are smart devices that can convert electric energy into mechanical energy under electro-heating stimulation, showing great potential in the fields of soft robotics, artificial muscle and aerospace component. In this study, to build a low-voltage activating, fast responding ETA, a robust and flexible carbon nanotube film (CNTF) with excellent electrical and thermal conductivity was adopted as the conductive material. Then, an asymmetric bilayer structured ETA was manufactured by coating a thin layer of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with high coefficient of thermal expansion (9.3 × 10^–4 °C⁻¹), low young’s modulus (2.07 MPa) on a thin CNTF (~ 11 μm). The as-produced CNTF/PDMS composite ETA exhibited a large deformation (bending angle ~ 324°) and high electro heating performance (351 °C) at a low driving voltage of 8 V within ~ 12 s. The actuated movement and the generated heat could be controlled by adjusting the driving voltages and showed almost the same values in 20 cycles. Furthermore, the influences of the PDMS thickness and driving voltage on CNTF/PDMS composite ETA performance were systematically investigated. The CNTF/PDMS soft robotic hand which can lift 5.1 times and crab 1.3 times of its weight demonstrated its potential capability.

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Mohamed Amine Aouraghe, Zhou Mengjie, Yiping Qiu, Xu Fujun. Low-Voltage Activating, Fast Responding Electro-thermal Actuator Based on Carbon Nanotube Film/PDMS Composites. Advanced Fiber Materials, 2021, 3(1): 38-46 DOI:10.1007/s42765-020-00060-w