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Journals
Polymers
Special Issues
Polymer Actuator
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Polymer Actuator

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018)

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Senentxu Lanceros-Mendez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
BCMaterials, Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures, UPV/EHU Science Park, 48940 Leioa, Spain
Interests: multifunctional materials; smart materials; energy storage; energy harvesting; sensors; actuators
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Clarisse Ribeiro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro/Departamento de Física, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Interests: bone and muscle tissue engineering; piezoelectric polymers; active biomaterials; cell/biomaterial interface
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Vanessa F. Cardoso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. CMEMS-UMinho, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
2. CF-UM-UP, Centro de Física, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Interests: microfluidics; micro and nanostructured materials; smart and functional materials; biomedicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Actuators are materials and devices able to produce mechanical work as a response to external stimuli. Thus, mechanical work is produced as a response to an electrical input, temperature or pH variation, among others. This mechanical work can be produced from the nano to the macroscopic scale, allowing therefore a large variety of applications.

In particular, polymer-based actuators are gaining increasing attention due to the large variety of different physical and chemical inputs providing mechanical variations, broad range of strain, stresses and conformation variations, simple processing in a large variety of forms and shapes, as well as the broad application spectra, including robotics, micro and nano-machines, and tissue engineering applications, among others.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit original research papers, short communications or state-of-the-art reviews within the scope of this Special Issue. Contributions can range from fundamentals, processing and characterization of materials, to innovations in processing technologies or the development of applications.

Prof. Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez
Dr. Clarisse Ribeiro
Dr. Vanessa Cardoso
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart materials
  • actuators
  • soft robotics
  • artificial muscles
  • biomedical applications
  • multifunctional materials

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3655 KiB  
Article
Strategies to Control Performance of 3D-Printed, Cable-Driven Soft Polymer Actuators: From Simple Architectures to Gripper Prototype
by Viacheslav Slesarenko, Seiji Engelkemier, Pavel I. Galich, Dmitry Vladimirsky, Gregory Klein and Stephan Rudykh
Polymers 2018, 10(8), 846; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10080846 - 01 Aug 2018
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5622
Abstract
The following is a study of the performance of soft cable-driven polymer actuators produced by multimaterial 3D printing. We demonstrate that the mechanical response of the polymer actuator with an embedded cable can be flexibly tuned through the targeted selection of actuator architecture. [...] Read more.
The following is a study of the performance of soft cable-driven polymer actuators produced by multimaterial 3D printing. We demonstrate that the mechanical response of the polymer actuator with an embedded cable can be flexibly tuned through the targeted selection of actuator architecture. Various strategies, such as the addition of discrete or periodic stiff inserts, the sectioning of the actuator, or the shifting of the cable channel are employed to demonstrate ways to achieve more controllable deformed shape during weight lifting or reduce the required actuation force. To illustrate these concepts, we design and manufacture a prototype of the soft polymer gripper, which is capable of manipulating small, delicate objects. The explored strategies can be utilized in other types of soft actuators, employing, for instance, actuation by means of electroactive polymers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Actuator)
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12 pages, 4850 KiB  
Article
Voltage-Induced Wrinkle Performance in a Hydrogel by Dielectric Elastomer Actuation
by Chao Tang, Bo Li, Chenbang Zou, Lei Liu and Hualing Chen
Polymers 2018, 10(7), 697; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10070697 - 22 Jun 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4312
Abstract
Hydrogel is a type of soft smart material and is responsive to stimuli. In the development of actuation in hydrogel, electrical actuation features a fast and universal strategy which is favored in the engineering system. Due to the difficulty in direct electrical actuation [...] Read more.
Hydrogel is a type of soft smart material and is responsive to stimuli. In the development of actuation in hydrogel, electrical actuation features a fast and universal strategy which is favored in the engineering system. Due to the difficulty in direct electrical actuation in hydrogel, in this study, an indirect actuation was attained via a dielectric elastomer. An aligned wrinkle pattern was obtained in the hydrogel upon a direct-current voltage, and it is reversible. The morphology and nonlinear mechanics of the electro-wrinkling deformation was characterized and analyzed. The optical property of the wrinkle in hydrogel was investigated, demonstrating a tunable blurring effect in optics. The electro-wrinkling performance offers a potential application with soft and tunable optical property in hydrogel-based actuators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Actuator)
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