Fabrication and buckling analysis of ionic polymer metal composite pipes

In this paper, we study buckling of ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) pipes under uniaxial compression. A novel methodology to fabricate shell-like IPMCs is developed by combining hot pressing and chemical reduction. In the compression tests, IPMC pipes of varying thickness are clamped at their ends through custom-made fixtures and both short-circuit current and deformation are recorded as a function of the applied load. Experimental results are interpreted using classical findings on the buckling of thin shells and finite element simulations. Our results demonstrate that IPMC buckling can be accurately sensed through the short-circuit current, which is nearly zero during the loading phase, before suddenly increasing at the onset of the elastic instability. The buckling patterns of the samples are largely non-axisymmetric with a number of lobes appearing along the axial and circumferential directions of the IPMC pipes.