Towards Programmable Materials - Tunable Material Properties Through Feedback Control of Conducting Polymers

摘要

This work is focused on developing an integrated device, called a programmable material, which mirrors the capabilities of natural co-fabricated controlled actuation systems such as muscle. While such a device may have the external appearance of a homogeneous material, it can possess unique properties not existing in any manufactured material. When actuation, sensing, and control capabilities are integrated within a closed-loop system, the mechanical properties of the system such as stiffness, viscosity, and inertia will arise from the dynamics of the feedback loop rather than from any inherent mechanical properties of the materials from which the device was fabricated. Moreover, these properties may be 'tuned' by altering the feedback parameters embedded in the material system. With this approach properties such as negative stiffness may be generated which do not exist in bulk materials.