Recently,researches on artificial muscles for imitating the functions of the natural muscles has attracted wide attention.The fiber-shape actuators,shape-memory materials or deforming devices,which are similar to huma...Recently,researches on artificial muscles for imitating the functions of the natural muscles has attracted wide attention.The fiber-shape actuators,shape-memory materials or deforming devices,which are similar to human muscle fiber bundles,have extensively studied and provided more possibilities for artificial muscles.Herein,we develop a thermal responsible fiber-shaped actuator based on the low-cost hollow polyethylene fiber.The sheath-core structured fibrous actuators and the stainless-steel conductive yarn winded pre-stretched polyethylene actuators are fabricated with the heating assisted pre-stretching procedure.The actuation mechanism of the thermal-responsive orientation change of molecular chains driving the actuation is discussed and demonstrated by 2D XRD patterns.These polyethylene-based fibrous actuators displayed three significant advantages including(i)color-turning and shape-changing bifunctional response,(ii)direct joule heating actuation and(iii)effective contraction(18%shrinkage of the pristine length)and lifting ability(the ratio of lifting weight to self-weight is up to 50).展开更多
基金We gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the Manned Spaceflight Advanced Research Funds(17620504)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(16D310606,17D310606,106-06-0019058).
文摘Recently,researches on artificial muscles for imitating the functions of the natural muscles has attracted wide attention.The fiber-shape actuators,shape-memory materials or deforming devices,which are similar to human muscle fiber bundles,have extensively studied and provided more possibilities for artificial muscles.Herein,we develop a thermal responsible fiber-shaped actuator based on the low-cost hollow polyethylene fiber.The sheath-core structured fibrous actuators and the stainless-steel conductive yarn winded pre-stretched polyethylene actuators are fabricated with the heating assisted pre-stretching procedure.The actuation mechanism of the thermal-responsive orientation change of molecular chains driving the actuation is discussed and demonstrated by 2D XRD patterns.These polyethylene-based fibrous actuators displayed three significant advantages including(i)color-turning and shape-changing bifunctional response,(ii)direct joule heating actuation and(iii)effective contraction(18%shrinkage of the pristine length)and lifting ability(the ratio of lifting weight to self-weight is up to 50).
