Automated Fabrication of Elastomeric Prepregs for Soft Robotics Applications

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Fluidic elastomer soft robots typically consist of a top and a strain-limiting bottom part. Both parts are usually cast and then glued together. Elastomeric prepregs, which can be stored at low temperatures for several months without significant cross-linking, simplify this manufacturing process. A cured top part of an arbitrary shape is placed on the wet prepreg, which later forms the strain-limiting layer, and the actuator is finally cured in an oven. Herein, a machine is designed and developed that automatically produces prepregs. Three different concepts are realized in a modular prototype: direct roller application, reverse roller application, and application with slot dies. Experiments show that the direct and the reverse roller application concepts are both suitable for the automated production of prepregs, where the latter one may be preferred due to the smaller number of contact surfaces. Three different textiles (polyester/cotton-blended fabric, nylon fabric, and fleece) are impregnated with the reverse roller application concept using Sylgard 184 and stored at −25 °C for 12 days. Using these prepregs, soft bending actuators are manufactured and tested for their functionality. Long-term fatigue tests show that only actuators produced with fleece prepregs are durable, without any signs of delamination.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1900854
JournalAdvanced Engineering Materials
Volume22
Issue number4
Number of pages6
ISSN1438-1656
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.04.2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank Doruk Utkan, Vignesh Venkatachalam, and Mert Yildiz for their assistance during prepreg production. The authors also thank Lars Schiller for his support in the fatigue experiments.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

    Research areas

  • automated fabrication, elastomeric prepregs, fluid-driven robots, impregnation mechanisms, soft robotics
  • Engineering

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. A Unified Contextual Bandit Framework for Long- and Short-Term Recommendations
  2. Dynamic Inversion-Enhanced U-Control of Quadrotor Trajectory Tracking
  3. Formalised and Non-Formalised Methods in Resource Management-Knowledge and Social Learning in Participatory Processes
  4. Optimization of a gaseous multitube detector for soft X-ray detection
  5. Geometric structures using model predictive control for an electromagnetic actuator
  6. Time Use Research and Time Use Data
  7. A holistic view on security and collaboration in safe space
  8. The relationship between resilience and sustainable development of ecological-economic systems
  9. Discourse of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ in Newspaper Editorials on Insecurity in Nigeria
  10. What role for frames in scalar conflicts?
  11. Modeling Self-Organization
  12. Improving efficiency in budgeting
  13. OPERATIONALIZING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FROM MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
  14. Integratives Gendering in der Lehre
  15. Large trees are keystone structures in urban parks
  16. Early subtropical forest growth is driven by community mean trait values and functional diversity rather than the abiotic environment
  17. Tree and mycorrhizal fungal diversity drive intraspecific and intraindividual trait variation in temperate forests
  18. Interactive sequential generative models for team sports
  19. Evidence for singlet state β cleavage in the photoreaction of α-(2,6-dimethoxyphenoxy)-acetophenone inferred from time-resolved CIDNP spectroscopy
  20. Biodiversity in space and time - towards a grid mapping for Mongolia
  21. Education and Communication as Prerequisites for and Components of Sustainable Development. Reflections for Policies, Conceptual Work, and Theory, Based on Previous Practises
  22. Why Fun Matters: In Search of Emergent Playful Experiences
  23. Deconstructing and reconstructing diversity in client-provider-relationships of social work
  24. Using frequency tagging to investigate social processing in autism
  25. Horizontal, but not vertical canopy structure is related to stand functional diversity in a subtropical slope forest
  26. Influences of RVE topology, discretization and boundary conditions in practical multiscaling - a comparison
  27. (Un)Bestimmtheit
  28. Repatriation, Public Programming, and the DEAI Toolkit
  29. Integrating inductive and deductive analysis to identify and characterize archetypical social-ecological systems and their changes
  30. Gamen
  31. Framework for empirical research on science teaching and learning
  32. Germination changes can restructure communities through priority effects