Solid state actuators (piezoelectric, ferroelectric, ...) deform under an external field, and have found many applications. They respond fast, but their mechanical deformations are very small. There is a need for soft actuators, giving larger responses, but necessarily less fast. This paper describes the early attempts by Katchalsky and others, and the problems which showed up -related to time constants, and, most importantly, to fatigue. Two current attempts are reviewed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0003012,
title = {Towards artificial muscles},
author = {Pierre-Gilles de Gennes},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0003012},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
6 pages, 5 eps figures, submitted Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 11/8/99