中国物理B ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (4): 48801-048801.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/26/4/048801

• INTERDISCIPLINARY PHYSICS AND RELATED AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY • 上一篇    下一篇

Design and optimization of carbon nanotube/polymer actuator by using finite element analysis

Wei Zhang(张薇), Luzhuo Chen(陈鲁倬), Jianmin Zhang(张健敏), Zhigao Huang(黄志高)   

  1. 1 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Manipulation and New Energy Materials, College of Physics and Energy, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China;
    2 Fujian Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Semiconductors and Efficient Devices, Xiamen 361005, China
  • 收稿日期:2016-10-21 修回日期:2017-01-17 出版日期:2017-04-05 发布日期:2017-04-05
  • 通讯作者: Luzhuo Chen E-mail:chenluzhuo@163.com
  • 基金资助:

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11504051, 51202031, 61574037, and 11404058), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (Grant Nos. 2017J06014, 2015J01008, and 2014J01175), Fujian Provincial Program for Distinguished Young Scientists in University (Grant No. J1-1166), and Fujian Provincial Key Project of Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists in University (Grant No. JZ160428).

Design and optimization of carbon nanotube/polymer actuator by using finite element analysis

Wei Zhang(张薇)1,2, Luzhuo Chen(陈鲁倬)1,2, Jianmin Zhang(张健敏)1,2, Zhigao Huang(黄志高)1,2   

  1. 1 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Manipulation and New Energy Materials, College of Physics and Energy, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China;
    2 Fujian Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Semiconductors and Efficient Devices, Xiamen 361005, China
  • Received:2016-10-21 Revised:2017-01-17 Online:2017-04-05 Published:2017-04-05
  • Contact: Luzhuo Chen E-mail:chenluzhuo@163.com
  • Supported by:

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11504051, 51202031, 61574037, and 11404058), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (Grant Nos. 2017J06014, 2015J01008, and 2014J01175), Fujian Provincial Program for Distinguished Young Scientists in University (Grant No. J1-1166), and Fujian Provincial Key Project of Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists in University (Grant No. JZ160428).

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摘要：

In recent years, actuators based on carbon nanotube (CNT) or graphene demonstrate great potential applications in the fields of artificial muscles, smart switches, robotics, and so on. The electrothermal and photothermal bending actuators based on CNT/graphene and polymer composites show large bending actuations, which are superior to traditional thermal-driven actuators. However, the influence of material parameters (thickness, temperature change, etc.) on the actuation performance needs to be further studied, because it is a critical point to the design and fabrication of high-performance actuators. In this work, finite element analysis (FEA) is employed to simulate the actuation performance of CNT/polymer actuator, which has a bilayer structure. The main focus of this work is to design and to optimize material parameters by using computational method. FEA simulation results show that each layer thickness of actuator has an important influence on the actuation deformation. A maximum curvature of 2.7 cm-1 is obtained by simulation, which is much larger than most of the actuator curvature reported in previous experiments. What is more, larger temperature change and larger difference of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between two layers will result in larger bending actuation. This study is expected to provide valuable theoretical reference for the design and realization of CNT-based thermal actuator with ultra-large actuation performance.

关键词: actuator, carbon nanotubes, nanocomposites, finite element analysis

Abstract:

In recent years, actuators based on carbon nanotube (CNT) or graphene demonstrate great potential applications in the fields of artificial muscles, smart switches, robotics, and so on. The electrothermal and photothermal bending actuators based on CNT/graphene and polymer composites show large bending actuations, which are superior to traditional thermal-driven actuators. However, the influence of material parameters (thickness, temperature change, etc.) on the actuation performance needs to be further studied, because it is a critical point to the design and fabrication of high-performance actuators. In this work, finite element analysis (FEA) is employed to simulate the actuation performance of CNT/polymer actuator, which has a bilayer structure. The main focus of this work is to design and to optimize material parameters by using computational method. FEA simulation results show that each layer thickness of actuator has an important influence on the actuation deformation. A maximum curvature of 2.7 cm-1 is obtained by simulation, which is much larger than most of the actuator curvature reported in previous experiments. What is more, larger temperature change and larger difference of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between two layers will result in larger bending actuation. This study is expected to provide valuable theoretical reference for the design and realization of CNT-based thermal actuator with ultra-large actuation performance.

Key words: actuator, carbon nanotubes, nanocomposites, finite element analysis

中图分类号:  (Carbon nanotubes)

  • 88.30.rh
02.70.Dh (Finite-element and Galerkin methods) 84.60.-h (Direct energy conversion and storage) 81.05.Qk (Reinforced polymers and polymer-based composites)