Toyoda Gosei Co Ltd, a Japan-based specialty manufacturer of rubber and plastic automotive parts, an exclusive licensing agreement for the use and sale of the Slide-Ring Material, a key material in e-Rubberto be used in dielectric actuators and dielectric sensors.
The basic structure of the Slide-Ring material is the supramolecular networks comprised of nano-sized “necklace” supramolecules called polyrotaxane with cross-linking points of bonded molecular necklaces or molecular necklaces with other polymers. Cross-linking the bonded molecular necklaces with other polymers enables free movement of cross-linking points to build supramolecular networks.
Cross-linking points are used for a pulley effect, equalising the tensions among polymers. Thanks to this effect, Slide-Ring material has unique mechanical properties that conventional plastics and rubber do not have, and has been able to form a polymeric material with completely new functions.
e-Rubber is a versatile smart polymer that acts as an electromechanical transducer to transform electric energy to or from mechanical movement.
Dielectric actuators are characterised by softness, light weight, high output, and low energy consumption. A great deal of research work has been done so far worldwide for a very broad range of applications such as “artificial muscles for robotics” and other uses as a next-generation source of motive power to replace electromagnetic motors.
Dielectric sensors are also promising for use as tactile/pressure sensors and motion sensors that take advantage of this softness. As with actuators, however, there were issues caused by the basic physical and chemical properties of materials (internal friction, durability, etc.).
Toyoda Gosei, using Slide-Ring Material with its supramolecular structure and material design technology cultivated in the development of automotive parts as a specialist in the field of polymers, has achieved performance that overcomes these issues and reached the stage of developing practical applications in various fields.
The company is continuing the development of e-Rubber with ASM and Tokyo University as “Research and Development of Flexible Sensors and Actuators Using Slide-Ring Material,” part of the 2015 NEDO project “Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence and Robot Core Technology Development.”
With this exclusive licensing agreement, Toyoda Gosei and ASM will work more closely together to accelerate the development of e-Rubber for practical uses in smart devices to be employed in various kinds of next-generation robots that will support aging societies with falling birth rates, industrial equipment, automobiles and IoT.