Abstract
This paper describes the fabrication and characteristics of an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) membrane-shaped micro-actuator and its application to the fabrication of a micro-pump. After fabricating two 8mm×8mm IPMC membrane-shaped actuators using a Nafion film, their displacements were measured. The fabricated IPMC membrane-shaped micro-actuators showed displacement of 14-̃27 μm at the applied voltage ranging from 4V P-P to 10V P-P at 0.5Hz. Displacement of the IPMC actuator fabricated with a commercially available Nafion is large enough to make the IPMC actuator a membrane-shaped micro-actuator for fabricating an IPMC micro-pump. IPMC micro-pump was fabricated by assembling IPMC membrane-shaped micro-actuator and PDMS(polydimethylsiloxane) micro-channel together. PDMS micro-channel was designed to have nozzle/diffuser structures which make the fluids flow from inlet to outlet when the IPMC membrane-shaped micro-actuator is deflected up and down by the applied voltages. The measured flow rate of the fabricated IPMC micro-pump was about 9.97 μl/min at 0.5Hz when the input voltage and duty ratio were 8V P-P and 50%, respectively. The test results illustrate that the fabricated IPMC micro-pump is suitable for pumping fluid through micro-channel on a PDMS substrate. Mechanical performances of beam-shaped and bridge-shaped conductive polymer actuator in aqueous solution and in solid electrolyte have been measured and analyzed. The optimum thickness of polypyrrole for the best bending performance is about 17-19 μm which has been polymerized at the current density of 5.4 μA/mm 2 for 120 minutes. For the application of conductive polymer actuator to a micropump, silicon bulk micromachining process has been combined.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 272-280 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
Volume | 5385 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2004 |
Event | Smart Structures and Materials 2004 - Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) - San Diego, CA, United Kingdom Duration: 2004 Mar 15 → 2004 Mar 18 |
Keywords
- Actuator
- Micropump
- Parylene
- Polypyrrole
- Solid polymer electrolyte
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering