An artificial muscle by PVA hydrogel can generate high power close to living skeletal muscles

摘要

Polyvinylalcohol (PVA) hydrogel containing both polyacrylic acids (PAA) and polyallylamines (PAlAm) has been investigated for some time. In this report the performances of two kinds of improved materials are shown. One was made with a very narrow gap mold, and the other by applying uniaxial stretching during gelation to realize an anisotropic hydrogel. As a result, thin films of 10- mu m thickness have been realized. These films are able to contract within 0.2 s under loading from 0 to 2 kg/cm/sup 2/. The contraction ratio varies depending on the load from 25% (no load) to 10% (2 kg/cm/sup 2/). The effect of anisotropy was found to increase the contraction ratio about 15% in this case.