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Comparative study of electromechanical response in some dielectric elastomers

V. CÂRLESCU1,* , D. OLARU1, F. BREABĂN2, GH. PRISĂCARU1

Affiliation

  1. Machine Elements and Mechatronic Department,”Gheorghe Asachi” Tehnical University of Iaşi,România,
  2. Université Lille Nord de France, F-59000 Lille, France; Université d’Artois, LGCgE, F-62400 Béthune, France; CRITTM2A – IUTB/S2T-EHVL

Abstract

Dielectric elastomers, a subclass of electroactive polymers (EAP) materials, are very promising for actuator and sensor applications due to their interesting properties such as high energy density, high strain levels from 10 to 380 % and fast response in order of milliseconds. Polymer films were sandwich between two rigid electrodes and subjected to high DC electric fields. We investigate the transverse strain responses of some dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) using an eddy current displacement sensor. Electric-field-induced thickness strains in order of micrometers were measured at different high DC step voltage and a quadratic dependence was observed. A comparison has been made between three categories of elastomers. The preliminary results show that performance of the actuators not only depends on the material properties but it is also a function of the actuator structure and electrode materials. We also concluded that these materials may be candidates for actuator materials in micro-actuation mechatronic systems..

Keywords

Dielectric elastomer, Transverse strain response, Actuator materials.

Submitted at: May 4, 2011
Accepted at: Aug. 10, 2011

Citation

V. CÂRLESCU, D. OLARU, F. BREABĂN, GH. PRISĂCARU, Comparative study of electromechanical response in some dielectric elastomers, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 13, Iss. 8, pp. 986-991 (2011)