TY - JOUR
T1 - Soft actuator with large volumetric change using vapor-liquid phase transition
AU - Noguchi, Tomoki
AU - Tsumori, Fujio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Soft robotics has become an attractive research topic with the recent development of soft actuators. Herein, we propose a deformable soft actuator with large volumetric changes. The proposed elastomer contains liquid droplets; their transition from the liquid phase to the vapor phase can be controlled by heat. We chose silicone and urethane rubbers as the matrix materials; droplets of water and fluorine were dispersed homogeneously in the rubber matrix as micelles or solutes. After curing the rubber, bubbles appeared owing to microwave heating. We succeeded in generating a fine bubble structure using the proposed method, and we could reduce the leakage of the droplet material using urethane as the matrix material. Finally, we attempted to fabricate a small actuator to work in the channels. The proposed method can be useful for miniaturized soft robots.
AB - Soft robotics has become an attractive research topic with the recent development of soft actuators. Herein, we propose a deformable soft actuator with large volumetric changes. The proposed elastomer contains liquid droplets; their transition from the liquid phase to the vapor phase can be controlled by heat. We chose silicone and urethane rubbers as the matrix materials; droplets of water and fluorine were dispersed homogeneously in the rubber matrix as micelles or solutes. After curing the rubber, bubbles appeared owing to microwave heating. We succeeded in generating a fine bubble structure using the proposed method, and we could reduce the leakage of the droplet material using urethane as the matrix material. Finally, we attempted to fabricate a small actuator to work in the channels. The proposed method can be useful for miniaturized soft robots.
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U2 - 10.35848/1347-4065/ab85ae
DO - 10.35848/1347-4065/ab85ae
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85085242919
VL - 59
JO - Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
JF - Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
SN - 0021-4922
IS - SI
M1 - SIIL08
ER -