Texturing to Dramatically Increase Thermal Deformation of Film and Applying to Actuator

The effect of adding texture to increase the deformation of the bilayer actuator by a factor of more than 100 was demonstrated. The newly developed textured film actuator (TFA) obtained large deformation even when the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion is small. The Maximum generated force and curvature of TFA were 7.4 mN and 0.19 mm
^-1
at 0.38 W, respectively. The manufacturing process for TFA is simple and easy, requiring no adhesives or special materials. In thermal drive bilayer actuator fabrication, the range of material selection is greatly expanded and energy consumption is expected to be significantly reduced.