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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011
Electrochemomechanical deformations (ECMD) of conducting polymer, polyaniline, films are studied to investigate the creeping and the memory effects. During electrochemical cycling under high tensile stresses up to 5 MPa, the films showed a remarkable creeping, resulting in the one dimensional anisotropic deformation. However, the creeping was recovered by release of the tensile stress, restoring from the anisotropic deformation. It was also found that the strain of ECMD after applying high tensile stresses increased compared with that before applying the large tensile stress. The result indicates that the artificial muscles are strengthened in strain by the experience of large tensile loads, and discussed taking the rheology of electrochemical cycles, viz., electrostatic crosslinking of polymer chains by oxidation and release of crosslinking by reduction.