Liquid Crystal Elastomers


Book Description

This text is a primer for liquid crystals, polymers, rubber and elasticity. It is directed at physicists, chemists, material scientists, engineers and applied mathematicians at the graduate student level and beyond.




Liquid Crystal Elastomers: Materials and Applications


Book Description

Preparation of Liquid Crystalline Elastomers, by F. Brömmel, D. Kramer, H. Finkelmann Applications of Liquid Crystalline Elastomers, by C. Ohm, M. Brehmer und R. Zentel Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Light, by Peter Palffy-Muhoray Electro-Opto-Mechanical Effects in Swollen Nematic Elastomers, by Kenji Urayama The Isotropic-to-Nematic Conversion in Liquid Crystalline Elastomers, by Andrija Lebar, George Cordoyiannis, Zdravko Kutnjak und Bostjan Zalar Order and Disorder in Liquid-Crystalline Elastomers, by Wim H. de Jeu und Boris I. Ostrovskii




Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles


Book Description

Covers the field of EAP with attention to all aspects and full infrastructure, including the available materials, analytical models, processing techniques, and characterization methods. This second edition covers advances in EAP in electric EAP, electroactive polymer gels, ionomeric polymer-metal composites, and carbon nanotube actuators.




Soft Actuators


Book Description

This book is the second edition of Soft Actuators, originally published in 2014, with 12 chapters added to the first edition. The subject of this new edition is current comprehensive research and development of soft actuators, covering interdisciplinary study of materials science, mechanics, electronics, robotics, and bioscience. The book includes contemporary research of actuators based on biomaterials for their potential in future artificial muscle technology. Readers will find detailed and useful information about materials, methods of synthesis, fabrication, and measurements to study soft actuators. Additionally, the topics of materials, modeling, and applications not only promote the further research and development of soft actuators, but bring benefits for utilization and industrialization. This volume makes generous use of color figures, diagrams, and photographs that provide easy-to-understand descriptions of the mechanisms, apparatus, and motions of soft actuators. Also, in this second edition the chapters on modeling, materials design, and device design have been given a wider scope and made easier to comprehend, which will be helpful in practical applications of soft actuators. Readers of this work can acquire the newest technology and information about basic science and practical applications of flexible, lightweight, and noiseless soft actuators, which differ from conventional mechanical engines and electric motors. This new edition of Soft Actuators will inspire readers with fresh ideas and encourage their research and development, thus opening up a new field of applications for the utilization and industrialization of soft actuators.




Piezoelectric Actuators


Book Description

Currently, many smart materials exhibit one or multifunctional capabilities that are being effectively exploited in various engineering applications, but these are only a hint of what is possible. Newer classes of smart materials are beginning to display the capacity for self-repair, self-diagnosis, self-multiplication, and self-degradation. Ultimately, what will make them practical and commercially viable are control devices that provide sufficient speed and sensitivity. While there are other candidates, piezoelectric actuators and sensors are proving to be the best choice. Piezoelectric Actuators: Control Applications of Smart Materials details the authors’ cutting-edge research and development in this burgeoning area. It presents their insights into optimal control strategies, reflecting their latest collection of refereed international papers written for a number of prestigious journals. Piezoelectric materials are incorporated in devices used to control vibration in flexible structures. Applications include beams, plates, and shells; sensors and actuators for cabin noise control; and position controllers for structural systems such as the flexible manipulator, engine mount, ski, snowboard, robot gripper, ultrasonic motors, and various type of sensors including accelerometer, strain gage, and sound pressure gages. The contents and design of this book make it useful as a professional reference for scientists and practical engineers who would like to create new machines or devices featuring smart material actuators and sensors integrated with piezoelectric materials. With that goal in mind, this book: Describes the piezoelectric effect from a microscopic point of view Addresses vibration control for flexible structures and other methods that use active mount Covers control of flexible robotic manipulators Discusses application to fine-motion and hydraulic control systems Explores piezoelectric shunt technology This book is exceptionally valuable as a reference for professional engineers working at the forefront of numerous industries. With its balanced presentation of theory and application, it will also be of special interest to graduate students studying control methodology.




Liquid Crystalline Polymers


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive overview of various self-assemblies in liquid crystalline polymers and their electrical, optical, mechanical, and flame retardant properties. Liquid crystalline polymers are unique self-assembled, functional soft materials with electrical, magnetic, and thermal responses which find potential applications in numerous areas. As well as providing an overview of their synthesis, self-assembly and dynamics the various applications are also discussed. Such applications as liquid crystalline elastomers, light responsive actuators, optical reflectors, gas barrier films, and even flame retardant polymers will be presented. The book is a useful resource for undergraduates, postgraduates and experienced researchers.




Electroactive Polymers for Robotic Applications


Book Description

This book covers the fundamental properties, modeling, and demonstration of Electroactive polymers in robotic applications. It particularly details artificial muscles and sensors. In addition, the book discusses the properties and uses in robotics applications of ionic polymer–metal composite actuators and dielectric elastomers.




Flexible and Stretchable Electronic Composites


Book Description

This book is the first comprehensive collection of electronic aspects of different kinds of elastomer composites, including combinations of synthetic, natural and thermoplastic elastomers with different conducting fillers like metal nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, or graphenes, and many more. It covers elastomer composites, which are useful in electronic applications, including chemical and physical as well as material science aspects. The presented elastomer composites have great potential for solving emerging new material application requirements, for example as flexible and wearable electronics. The book is structured and organized by the rubber/elastomer type: each chapter describes a different elastomer matrix and its composites. While introducing to important fundamentals, it is application-oriented, discussing the current issues and challenges in the field of elastomer composites. This book will thus appeal to researchers and scientists, to engineers and technologists, but also to graduate students, working on elastomer composites, or on electronics engineering with the composites, providing the readers with a sound introduction to the field and solutions to both fundamental and applied problems.




Artificial Cilia


Book Description

Cilia are tiny hairs covering biological cells to generate and sense fluid flow. Millions of years of evolution have inspired a novel technology which is barely a decade old. Artificial cilia have been developed to control and sense fluid flow in microscopic systems, presenting new and interesting options for flow control in lab-on-a-chip devices. This appealing link between nature and technology has seen rapid development in the last few years, and this book presents a review of the state-of-the-art in the form of a professional reference book. The editors have pioneered the field, having initiated a major European project on this topic soon after its inception. Active researchers in academia and industry will benefit from the comprehensive nature of this book, while postgraduates and those new to the field will gain a clear understanding of the theory, techniques and applications of artificial cilia.




Polymers for Light-emitting Devices and Displays


Book Description

Polymers for Light-Emitting Devices and Displays provides an in-depth overview of fabrication methods and unique properties of polymeric semiconductors, and their potential applications for LEDs including organic electronics, displays, and optoelectronics. Some of the chapter subjects include: • The newest polymeric materials and processes beyond the classical structure of PLED • Conjugated polymers and their application in the light-emitting diodes (OLEDs & PLEDs) as optoelectronic devices. • The novel work carried out on electrospun nanofibers used for LEDs. • The roles of diversified architectures, layers, components, and their structural modifications in determining efficiencies and parameters of PLEDs as high-performance devices. • Polymer liquid crystal devices (PLCs), their synthesis, and applications in various liquid crystal devices (LCs) and displays. • Reviews the state-of-art of materials and technologies to manufacture hybrid white light-emitting diodes based on inorganic light sources and organic wavelength converters.