Abstract
The ability of some polymeric gels to shrink and swell with changes in their environment makes them of interest in many applications such as artificial muscles and drug delivery systems. While much work has been done to study the behavior and properties of these gels, little information is available regarding the full constitutive description of the mechanical and actuation properties. This work is focused on developing constitutive descriptions of the mechanical properties of such gels, and to determine how these properties change due to changes in the environment. Since these gels can undergo finite elastic deformations, uniaxial tests do not provide sufficient property information and a combination of loading conditions must be used. A biaxial testing system has been developed to test thin sheets of these films, and includes the ability to monitor and change the environmental conditions around the specimen. Initial tests were performed on latex to determine the quality of the testing apparatus. Preliminary results on a polyacrylonitrile gel are presented.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 226-235 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 3669 |
| State | Published - 1999 |
| Event | Proceedings of the 1999 Smart Structures and Materials - Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices - Newport Beach, CA, USA Duration: Mar 1 1999 → Mar 2 1999 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering