Actuation performances of anisotropic gels

TL;DR

This paper explores how anisotropic gels respond to mechanical and chemical stimuli, highlighting their deformation behavior, response times, and the influence of fiber orientation on exerted forces.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of actuation performances of anisotropic gels, emphasizing the effects of fiber orientation on deformation and force exertion.

Findings

Anisotropic gels exhibit distinct deformation processes before and after diffusion.

Fiber orientation significantly influences the range of forces and types of deformation.

Anisotropic gels can produce shear and transverse extensions depending on fiber alignment.

Abstract

We investigated the actuation performances of anisotropic gels driven by mechanical and chemical stimuli, in terms of both deformation processes and stroke--curves, and distinguished between the fast response of gels before diffusion starts and the asymptotic response attained at the steady state. We also showed as the range of forces that an anisotropic hydrogel can exert when constrained is especially wide;indeed, changing fiber orientation allows to induce shear as well as transversely isotropic extensions.