Nafion, Flemion actuators

The forth direction, analytical modeling for understanding the behaviors of these materials, has been popular approach. Testing and characterization have been conducted for developing the models. Such attempts have been done especially for ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs)[58, 70, 72, 120]. Nemab Nasser and his co-workers carried out extensive experimental studies on both Nafion- and Flemion-based IPMCs consisting of a thin perfluorinated ionomer in various cation forms, seeking to imderstand the fundamental properties of these composites, to explore the mechanism of their actuation, and finally, to optimize their performance for various potential applications[121]. They also performed a systematic experimental evaluation of the mechanical response of both metal-plated and bare Nafion and Flemion in various cation forms and various water saturation levels. They attempted to identify potential micromechanisms responsible for the observed electromechanical behavior of these materials, model them, and compare the model results with experimental data[122]. A computational micromechanics model has been developed to model the initial fast electromechanical response in these ionomeric materials[123]. A number... 

Figure 5.3 Water content of (a) Nafion 117, (b) Flemion F-1.44 and (c) Flemion F-1.8 membranes of various ionic forms. Abbreviations used for alkyl ammonium ions are TMA, TEA, TPrA, TBA for tetramethyl, tetraethyl, tetrapropyl and tetrabutyl ammonium ions, respectively (Reprinted with permission from Asaka, K., Fujiwara, N., Oguro, K. et al. State of water and ionic conductivity of solid polymer electrolyte membranes in relation to polymer actuators, J. Electroanalytical Chem., 505 (1 2), 24-32. Copyright (2001) Elsevier).

The ionic forms of the Nafion and Flemion affect the response speed and the bending amplitude of the electromechanical response of the IPMC actuator as shown in... 

The Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) is a type of EAP actuator whose use in active catheters has been studied the most [19-22, 27, 28]. An IPMC consists of a polymer electrolyte sandwiched between two thin metal layers and typically has an elastic modulus of 0.1 GPa [10]. Common polymer electrolytes are perfluorinated alkenes with anionic-group-terminated side chains, such as Nafion and Flemion or styrene/divinylbenzene based polymers with ionic groups substituted from phenyl rings [10]. 

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