Design and Fabrication of an Instrument to Measure Actuation Force of Polypyrrole Deposited on Electrode

Conducting polymers have been utilized as actuator materials since they operate at low voltages, have no metallic and bulky components and generate large amounts of strain. One of the limitations to test and characterize mechanical actuations in conducting polymers is material required to be freestanding structure. Non-freestanding conducting polymer films are thin layers of polymer films that cannot keep structural integrity without external support. These polymers are deposited on electrodes as base structure for handling, processing and testing. In this paper we discuss Design and Fabrication of an Instrument that can measure actuation force (mN) for a Non-freestanding polymer films. Electro chemical Synthesis and testing of polypyrrole films is performed on instrument adjusting different parameters to validate results. New or non-freestanding conducting polymers can be deposited on electrode and tested on this setup in initial phase. Then if found promising then can be further developed for mechanical properties which can save significant efforts in making polymer freestanding for testing.