• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.282-291
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• 2012

Control of shape/volume, mechanical, optical, electrical, and chemical switching of materials by external stimuli such as light, temperature, pH, electric field, and pressure has attracted great attention. Among these materials, photo-responsive materials containing photochromic compounds such as azobenzene, spiropyran, and cinnamic acid groups have been the subject of intense interest in recent years. In this review, we describe the recent progress in the area of azobenzene containing polymer materials that can convert light energy into mechanical energy directly. Especially we focus our attention on light-driven actuators such as artificial muscle, motor, and valve. We summarize the photomechanical effects in liquid crystal elastomer, amorphous polymer, monolayer, and supramolecules containing azobenzene, respectively.

• Composites Research
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.34-39
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• 2005

The relationship between strain and applied potential was derived for composite actuators consisting of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and conductive polymers (CPs). During deriving the relationship, an electrochemical ionic approach is utilized to formulate the electromechanical actuation of the composite film actuator. This relationship can give us a direct understanding of the actuation of a nanoactuator. The results show that the well-aligned SWNTs composite actuator can give good actuation responses and high actuating forces available. The actuation is found to be affected by both SWNTs and CPs components and the actuation of SWNTs component has two kinds of influences on that of the CPs component: reinforcement at the positive voltage and abatement at the negative voltage. Optimizations of SWNTs-CPs composite actuator may be achieved by using well-aligned nanotubes as well as choosing suitable electrolyte and input voltage range.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.1345-1345
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.316-317
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• 2009

The ion-exchange membrane, Nafion, remains as the benchmark for a majority of research and development in IPMC technology. In this research, we employed a novel ionomer named by sulfonated poly(styrene-ran-ethylene) (SPSE) that is crosslinked by UV irradiation. The sulfonic acid groups were stable during the UV irradiation crosslinking process. Water uptake, ion exchange capacity, and proton conductivity are characterized for both pure SPSE and crosslinked SPSE membrane. The bending responses of SPSE actuators under both direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) excitations were investigated. The voltage-current behaviors of the actuators under AC excitations are also measured. Results showed the crosslinked SPSE actuators have better electromechanical performance than that of pure SPSE actuator with regard to tip displacement as a novel smart material.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2017

Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) is an electroactive polymer (EAP) and a promising candidate actuator for various potential applications mainly due to its flexible, low voltage/power requirements, small and compact design, and lack of moving parts. Although widely used in industry, this material requires accurate numerical models and knowledge of optimal control methods. This paper presents State-Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) approach as one of rapidly emerging methodologies for designing nonlinear controllers. Additionally, the present paper describes a novel method of Multi HGO Observer design. In the proposed design, the calculated position of the IPMC strip accurately tracks the target position, which is illustrated by the experiments. Numerical results and comparison with experimental data are presented and the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified in experiments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.356-359
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• 2005

Ionic-polymer-metal-composite(IPMC), one of new actuation materials of electroactive polymers plated with noble metallic electrodes is known for the fast bending upon electric field. The IPMC strip bends towards anode under electrical field. It has many merits of low driving voltage, quick responsiveness, high durability, possibility of miniaturizability. In this paper, we studied for developing the large deflection of IPMC according several fabricating parameters. We measured the large deflection by the different process of sandpaper and sandblasting in surface treatment, the initial compositing process and the surface electroding process, and the different counter ions in ion exchanging process. In fundamental, the displacement of IPMC strip depends on voltage magnitude and applied signal frequency and its maximum deformation is observed at a critical frequency, resonant frequency.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2000.07c
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• pp.2227-2229
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• 2000

본 논문에서는 전도성 고분자 및 고체 전해질을 이용한 액추에이터 제작의 기초 자료로서 전도성 고분자의 합성 조건 및 고체 전해질의 종류에 따른 전도도의 변화를 측정하고 해석한다. 전도성 고분자 액추에이터의 동작 특성은 전도성 고분자 및 고체 전해질의 전기적 특성에 의해 많은 영향을 받으며 따라서 전기적 특성의 가장 중요한 요소인 전도도의 측정은 액추에이터 소자의 동작 특성을 해석하기 위해 중요한 의미를 지닌다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.125-125
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• 2014

In 1991, Prof. Toshio Masuda of Kyoto University for the first time synthesized a representative of diphenylacetylene polymer derivatives, poly[1-phenyl-2-(p-trimethylsilyl)phenylacetylene] [PTMSDPA]. This polymer is highly soluble nevertheless a ultra-high molecular weight (Mw) of > $1.0{\times}10^6$ which showed excellent chemical, physical, mechanical properties [1]. As one of the most interesting features of PTMSDPA, Prof. Katsumi Yoshino of Osaka Univ. reported that this polymer emits an intense fluorescence (FL) in a visible region because of the effective exciton confinement within the resonant structure between the polyene pi-conjugated chain and side phenyl full-aromatic bulky groups [2]. Very recently, Prof. Ben-Zhong Tang of Hong-Kong Institute of Science and Technology clarified the idea that the FL emission of disubstituted acetylene polymer derivatives originates from intramolecular excimer due to the face-to-face stacking of the side phenyl groups [3]. Thus, to know what influence to intramolecular excimer emission in the film as well as to further understand how the intramolecular excimer forms in the film became more crucial in order to further precisely design the optimized molecular structure for highly emissive, substituted acetylene polymers in the solid state. In recent studies, we have focused our interests on the origin of the FL emission in order to expand our knowledge to developments of novel sensor applications. It was found that the intramolecular phenyl-pheyl stack structure of PTMSDPA in film was variable in response to various external chemical stimuli. Using PTMSDPA and its derivatives, we have developed various potential applications such as latent fingerprint identification, viscosity sensor, chemical-responsive actuator, gum-like soft conjugated polymer, and bioimaging. The details will be presented in the 49th KVS Symposium held in Pyong Chang city.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.65-70
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• 2012

Structural changing materials which can induce the physical deformation of materials are interesting research topics with various potential applications. Particularly, light among many driving mechanisms is a non-contact energy source, hence the light-responsive system can be used where non-destructive, local irradiation, and remote control is needed. Here, a mainchain azobenzene polymer is synthesized and its physical and optical properties are observed and compared to that of a polymer having a light-responsive azobenzene moiety on its side chain. Further dispersion onto polyvinylalcohol hydrogel is made and its dual stability and actuation are observed upon UV-visible light irradiation. Extended azobenzene polymer blend films show an anisotropic light-actuation with non-polarized UV light at room temperature. This physical shape change is quite reversible and occurs at lower temperature than that of any other reported systems including liquid crystalline elastomers. It is successfully demonstrated that the simple physical azobenzene/polymer blending has a very good actuation compared to that of LCEs which need an elaborate chemical design and it can be further used in the areas requiring a dimensional shape change.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.272-281
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• 2012

Flexible/stretchable electronics have recently focused, since their applications extend to emerging flexible displays, sensors, dielectric elastomer actuator and generators, and smart surgical tools. Flexible/stretchable electrodes should be synchronized with employing mechanical deformations of either flexing or stretching modes. Thus, the research area is one of the tough subjects, since the electrodes should keep their basic functions of electrodes under various mode of mechanical deformations. In this review, we discuss the recent development in the preparation and properties of such flexible/stretchable electrodes.