Static and Dynamic Characterization of the Temperature and Humidity Influence on IPMC Actuators

Abstract—Several models that describe the behavior of ionicpolymer–metal composite (IPMC)-based actuators can be foundin the literature. The response of IPMC transducers as a functionof modifying quantities is a matter of interest; however, it hasnot been investigated. It is reasonable to argue that environmentalhumidity and temperature represent the main modifying parameters.In fact, humidity changes the behavior of IPMC transducers,working as both sensors and actuators, because it changesthe Young modulus of the devices and, hence, their mechanicalresponse. The influence of temperature is suspected, because polymercharacteristics are often influenced by this quantity. In aprevious paper, the authors proposed a dynamic model and investigatedthe scaling effect of geometrical parameters, giving evidenceof the excellent agreement between estimations that were obtainedusing the proposed model and corresponding observations. In thispaper, the response of IPMC actuators to both temperature andrelative humidity is analyzed, giving interesting information thatboth integrates IPMC models and allows for a better exploitationof IPMCs.