Abstract – Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMC) are a kind of Electro Active Polymers, capable of changing electrical energy to mechanical energy and vice versa. Their low working voltage and large bending deflection are their exceptional characteristics and undoubtedly the most important reasons of the fast extension of the novel applications of these smart composites. In this paper, the application of IPMC materials in active vibration control of continuous systems has been investigated. A two-layer cantilever beam with an IPMC layer and an Aluminum layer has been numerically constructed. The dynamic characteristics of the IPMC layer are modeled using finite element formulation. Having the dynamic response of the beam, the controllability of vibrations has been evaluated by adding a PID controller into the system. The results presented herein demonstrate that the unwanted vibrations can be suppressed by using an IPMC constraining layer.

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