Thermo-mechanical Characterization of Joule Heated Twisted-Coiled Actuators

Abstract

In this study, Twisted-Coiled Actuators (TCA) were manufactured by co-coiling a silver coated nylon conductive yarn with a nylon primary mono filament. In the co-coiled TCA, the conductive yarn is used for Joule heating of primary nylon mono filament to provide controlled actuation. A detailed experimental study is conducted to characterize the thermo-mechanical response of TCA, with varying supply of current amplitude and current rates. The results indicates significant rate-dependent hysteritic actuation response to supply current. The details of manufacturing, experiments and results are reported.