电活性聚合物驱动的仿生变色伪装技术研究进展

 电活性聚合物材料是一种具有电场响应变形的软体智能材料,其质地柔韧,变形过程与生物肌肉类似,被公认为是一种理想的人工肌肉材料。基于电活性聚合物的变色技术具有贴近生物本体特征和适用于复杂结构的应用优势,为新一代变色伪装技术的发展提供了新的方向。介绍了自然界生物的变色机理,比较了避役科生物的结构变色和头足纲生物的化学变色的区别;分析了现有仿生变色技术的现状,发现其中存在变色调控方式复杂、缺少变形适应性的特征;介绍了电活性聚合物电致变形的基本驱动机理,指出了这种类肌肉驱动变色方式存在的先进性和前沿性;比较了几种典型的电活性聚合物的变色技术及其特点,并归纳了现有研究中存在的挑战。该技术的实施有望推动新一代军事伪装装备发展,为具有环境共融特征的机器人提供应用技术支持。

Research progress of electroactive polymer actuated biomimetic coloration in camouflage

The unique characteristic of biological coloration in nature provides inspiration for engineering. Electro-active polymer is a kind of soft smart material with electric field responsive deformation. It is flexible and its deformation process is similar to that of biological muscle, which is recognized as an ideal artificial muscle material. Therefore, the electrochromic technology based on electro-active polymers that has a biological characteristic close to living things is suitable for the application to complex structures, so as to provide a new direction for the development of next-generation camouflage technology. Firstly, this paper introduces the mechanism of color change in nature, stating the differences in chameleon and cephalopod. The limitations of the existing technology are summarized in terms of inconvenience in actuation and lack of flexibility. Then the paper introduces the mechanism of electrically induced deformation of electroactive polymer, analyzes the advances in electro-active polymer actuated color change, and compares the current technical characteristics. Moreover,the challenges in current research are pointed out as well. The application of this technique may promote the development of military camouflage which features the next generation of tri-co robot in environmental visual compatibility.