Electrostatic analysis of cluster response to electrical and mechanical loading in ionic polymers with cluster morphology

It has recently been theorized that the initial fast electromechanical response of ionic polymer–metal composites (IPMCs) may be due to a polarization mechanism, while transport dominates the relaxation response. In order to investigate this hypothesis, a computational micromechanics model has been developed to model polarization response in these ionomeric transducers. Assuming a constant solvated state, the model tracks the rotation of individual dipoles within a given cluster in response to dipole–dipole interaction, mechanical stiffness of the pendant chain, and external loading. External loading may take the form of imposed cluster distortion or applied electrical field. Once the system of dipoles reaches equilibrium in response to loading, net polarization/distortion response is recorded as appropriate to the loading condition. Actuation predictions using the polarization model are consistent with the experimentally observed fast response of these materials.