The study of the PVA-DMSO gel actuator: 1st report action of PVA-DMSO gel actuator under a traveling wave

摘要

A gel of poly(vinyl alcohol) highly swollen with dimethyl sulfoxide was bent by applying D.C. electric field. Bendig angle is about 7.30(displacement is 0.9 mm) within 150 ms when 700 V was applied. This action is much faster than conventional polymer gels. The gel responds to sine wave with frequencies upto few hundred Hz. The purpose of this study is to develop new methods for actuating this gel. This paper describes an actuation method by applying traveling wave.