空気圧ゴム人工筋肉の繰り返し耐久性向上に関する研究

抄録

Pneumatic rubber Artificial muscle (PAM) has high back drivability and high output. However, PAM's Repetitive durability is low and not less well understood. Observing broken PAM which was made of carbon and latex rubber, there were breakage of fiber in it. Thus, we focused Aramid fiber that has high maximum shearing stress and abrasion resistance. Then, we compared load characteristics and repetitive durability between PAMs using carbon fiber and aramid fiber. Experimental result showed that load characteristic of PAM using aramid fiber is equal to PAM using carbon fiber. Furthermore, repetitive durability of PAM using Aramid fiber is 6times better than one using carbon fiber.

On the other hand, we tried to develop reparable PAM using thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). And load characteristic experiment and repetitive durability experiment were conducted. As a result, load characteristic of PAM using TPE was equal to previous PAMs. For future works, we are planning to simulate PAM from the viewpoint of material mechanics. Meanwhile, we are planning to improve repetitive durability of PAM using TPE.