Electroactive polymers as actuators

Electroactive polymers (EAP) are actuators that most closely emulate biological muscles compared to any other actuators that are human-made; therefore they earned the moniker “artificial muscles.” The materials that were developed in the early days of this field generated limited actuation strain and therefore received relatively little attention. However, over the last years a series of EAP materials has emerged that exhibits a significant shape change in response to electrical stimulation. Their capability allowed the production and demonstration of various exciting and novel mechanisms including robot fish, catheter steering elements, miniature grippers, loudspeakers, fishlike blimps, and dust-wipers. Novel applications such as microfluidic systems and tissue engineering have also emerged. The impressive advances in improving their actuation strain are attracting the attention of many engineers and scientists from many different disciplines. These materials are particularly attractive to biomimetic applications since they can be used to make biologically inspired intelligent robots and other mechanisms. Increasingly, EAP-actuated mechanisms are being engineered with large application potential. This chapter reviews the state of the art, challenges, and potential applications of EAP materials.