Experts developed a new bionic material from the University of California Los Angeles. The research includes the elements and the manufacturing process needed for creating the model. The study was carried out to build the most effective artificial muscle with features comparable to biological counterparts' strength and flexibility.
Artificial Muscle Close to Features of Body Muscle Developed
UCLA collaborated with scientists from SRI International, a California-based nonprofit institute, to develop the artificial model from materials needed and the manufacturing process for production across health and medical facilities.
The authors said that their latest bionic innovation was modified to mimic how the natural muscles work through the layers of thin, lightweight films called dielectric elastomers.
Elastomers, also known as electroactive polymers, are substances that can be gathered naturally or made synthetically. These materials are comprised of large molecules which can shift physical properties such as shapes and sizes with the help of an electric field.
The artificial muscles include films that scale to 35 micrometers, about the thickness and weight of the human hair. If stacked on each other, the layers become a small electric motor model that could function as close as the muscle tissues. With enough energy, these artificial tissues could obtain the power to move and be used in small sensors and robot machines.
The study examined the capability of various models ranging from four to 50 layers of films.
Applications of Bionic Materials
UCLA Department of Materials Science and Engineering specialist Qibing Pei, who also authored the study, explained in a UPI report that the model they created could be used in extensive applications, particularly in the functions needed by the medical industry. The expert continued that the materials are not limited to these potentials, as the new elastomers are also applicable in other studies related to small-scale robotics.
Pei added that the complexity of the human body's machinery could be matched with the capacity offered by the artificial muscles they produced, and it could be applied anywhere.
The bionic sheets could be used as a wearable technology that might be applied right on the skin surface or dysfunctional muscles responsible for moving parts of the face and allow a person to obtain smiling and blinking abilities once more, Pei said.
The expert added that it could also be used as an implant for procedures that, for example, treat acid reflux patients by improving their sphincter muscles.
Pei said that the next step for their work is to allocate these materials for the applications that could be utilized for a more effective outcome. Pei's team believes that creating an artificial muscle that can detect force, touch, and work similarly to the natural functions is one of the hardest innovations ever developed in science and engineering.
The study was published in Science, titled "A processable, high-performance dielectric elastomer and multilayering process."
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