Analysis of ionic polymer metal compositeactuators by using numerical methods

Polymer based electroactive materials have a very common usage potential in mechanics and medical because of good actuator and sensor properties. In this study a program been written by using MATLAB for the IPMC, which is a material that is being researched and being used in many scientific studies nowadays. By the help of this model, the results coming from various parameter values been compared between each other. As a part of this study some additional comparisons been made by using the results of the other scientific studies to verify the reliability of this model. The response of the IPMC is modeled in three stages: (i) a nonlinear equivalent electrical circuit to predict the current drawn, (ii) an electromechanical coupling term and (iii) a segmented mechanical beam model which includes an electrically induced torque for the polymer.