Date of Award
Spring 5-5-2023
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Natural Science
Department
College of Science and Mathematics
First Advisor
Hector Ochoa, PhD
Second Advisor
Christopher Aul, PhD
Third Advisor
Dan Bruton, PhD
Fourth Advisor
Odutayo Odunuga, PhD
Abstract
This thesis aimed to fabricate and test twisted coiled polymer actuators (TCPA) to understand the mechanical and thermal aspects of this artificial muscle fiber. The purpose of this thesis was to find a linear relationship using the LVDT sensor, fabricating TCPA fibers, and interpreting the data. The project tested whether nylon/polymer could be used as a better artificial muscle fiber.
This research accomplished three goals: (1) designing and fabricating a system capable of creating supercoiled muscle fibers consistently, (2) calibrating the Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) and Core, and (3) analyzing/interpreting the data of the Twisted Coiled Polymer Actuators (TCPA) fibers through the sensors. The proposed methods could be used to control the monofilament's twisting and tension through the four steps, measuring, coiling, annealing, and testing the TCPA fibers.
This thesis has built a foundation that can be used to fabricate TCPA fibers from nylon and evaluate their mechanical and thermal behavior while being measured within the LVDT sensor. The results provided a better understanding of the mechanical behavior of the TCPA fibers and provided the foundations to optimize a final building block to understanding this artificial muscle fiber.
Repository Citation
Ronquillo, Ryan, "The Future is Now in Twisted Coil Polymer Actuators (TCPA)" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 499.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/499
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Comments
Our research aims to fabricate the Twisted Coiled Polymer (TCP) actuators with nylon, calibrating the LVDT and Core sensor and deriving the data from the sensors. Finding a mathematical equation through statistical software (JMP) that predicts the muscle fiber's behavior will be the overall goal but not this research's goal. Fabricating the Twisted Coiled Polymer (TCP) actuators is mentioned thoroughly in the methodology, but these steps include four stages. The measurement, coiling, annealing, and testing stage aided our research by completing the first goal of this research, which is the fabrication of TCPAs. The next step is calibrating the Linear Differential Variable Transformer (LVDT) to acquire accurate linear measurements. Finally, after the calibration stage is the testing phase of each TCP actuator