Dielectric breakdown strength measurements with silicone-based single-layer dielectric elastomer transducers

Abstract

Dielectric elastomer transducers (DETs) consist of an elastic dielectric film sandwiched between compliant electrodes. Applying an electric voltage leads to an electrostatic pressure between the electrodes which causes a deformation of the DET due to the elastic dielectric. The dielectric breakdown field strength of the elastomer restricts the applied voltage. For highly efficient DETs, their dielectric breakdown strength during operation has to be known. In this work, eight different breakdown test scenarios with self-fabricated single-layer DET samples made of the silicone film Elastosil® Film 2030 (Wacker Chemie AG) are conducted. They differ in type of the applied electrical voltage (DC/AC), mechanical load of the silicone film and setup of the DET samples. The DETs show a nominal dielectric breakdown strength between 96 and 200 V μm−1 during operation depending on the applied voltage, prestretch and the setup of the DET. Applying protective silicone film layers on top and bottom of the electrodes leads to a reduced damage of the DET after the breakdown of the weakest point and prevents the complete failure of the transducer.

Power optimization of a conical dielectric elastomer actuator for resonant robotic systems

“…, where E b0 = 80 V/μm is the breakdown electric field with no pre-stretch and as reported by the manufacturer (Wacker Chemie AG). Note that the E b0 adopted in this study is relatively conservative as a higher value of E b0 = 90 V/μm was reported in [36].…”

A Review of Dielectric Elastomer Generator Systems

“…MR stretch (pure-shear test) 8.2 5.2 5.5 [70] Relative permittivity a) , ε=ε 0 [71,72] www.advancedsciencenews.com www.advintellsyst.com guarantee low material cost but lead to scarce durability in DE applications. Guaranteeing appropriate quality of DE films manufacturing seems key to reach lifetimes consistent with DEGS requirements.…”

“…Elastosil silicone holds elastic modulus, dielectric constant and elongation at break similar to those of rubber, and maximum measured BD field of 195 kV mm − 1 . [ 71 ] Based on the product , natural rubber appears virtually capable of larger convertible densities than silicone within a same stretch range. However, a systematic characterization of the BD strength at different stretches is currently missing for Elastosil, hence making a reliable comparison not particularly significant.…”

Uncovering isolated resonant responses in antagonistic pure-shear dielectric elastomer actuators

“…The non-dimensional damping coefficient is given as = 0.04 and the pre-stretch ratio is λ P = 1.02. It is noteworthy that, with the material parameters adopted in this work, the nominal electrical breakdown electric field is about 90 MV/m with no pre-stretch [49] , while the applying nominal amplitude adopted in this study is equivalent to about 40 MV/m, which is significantly lower than the critical value.…”