IPMC(Ionic Polymer Metal Composites), an electrically driven type of intelligent composite material, possess strong non-linearity, especially hysteresis characteristic which has an incredibly huge influence on its control accuracy. Fractional order system is a generalization and supplement to the traditional integer-order system and has made some control theories more robust and easier to simulate. In order to establish the IPMC model accurately, based on experimental data and artificial bee colony algorithm, the model of the integer order was parametrically optimized and further converted into the model of fractional order with better fitting degree during the process of modelling. For the fractional order model, the essay presents and introduces the theoretical content of the second order sliding mode controller based on the fractional order. The better control effect of the control method is confirmed by comparing this controller with the fractional order controller according to their respective verisimilitude and experimental results.