Fabrication and Application of Miniaturized Dielectric Elastomer Stack Actuators

Lotz, Peter; Matysek, Marc; Schlaak, Helmut F.

doi:10.1109/tmech.2010.2090164

Cited by 163 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…1) and sub-ms response time 2 can be achieved with DEAs, which find applications in a wide range of fields including soft-robotics, [3][4][5] optics, 2,6,7 and microfluidics. [8][9][10] DEAs are well suited to miniaturisation, as power density is high, 1 and complex shapes and systems can be made using simple architectures. DEAs however require voltages in the kV range, which limits potential applications, due to possible safety concerns but mostly due to the cost and size of the kV control electronics.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Printing low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators

Poulin

Rosset

Shea

2015

Applied Physics Letters

139

126

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We demonstrate the fabrication of fully printed thin dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), reducing the operation voltage below 300 V while keeping good actuation strain. DEAs are soft actuators capable of strains greater than 100% and response times below 1 ms, but they require driving voltage in the kV range, limiting the possible applications. One way to reduce the driving voltage of DEAs is to decrease the dielectric membrane thickness, which is typically in the 20–100 μm range, as reliable fabrication becomes challenging below this thickness. We report here the use of pad-printing to produce μm thick silicone membranes, on which we pad-print μm thick compliant electrodes to create DEAs. We achieve a lateral actuation strain of 7.5% at only 245 V on a 3 μm thick pad-printed membrane. This corresponds to a ratio of 125%/kV2, by far the highest reported value for DEAs. To quantify the increasing stiffening impact of the electrodes on DEA performance as the membrane thickness decreases, we compare two circular actuators, one with 3 μm- and one with 30 μm-thick membranes. Our experimental measurements show that the strain uniformity of the 3 μm-DEA is indeed affected by the mechanical impact of the electrodes. We developed a simple DEA model that includes realistic electrodes of finite stiffness, rather than assuming zero stiffness electrodes as is commonly done. The simulation results confirm that the stiffening impact of the electrodes is an important parameter that should not be neglected in the design of thin-DEAs. This work presents a practical approach towards low-voltage DEAs, a critical step for the development of real world applications.

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confidence: 99%

“…In addition, a lateral strain of 7.5% is enough to meet the requirements of many DEA applications. 2,9 Two main effects can explain reduced actuation strain for the 3 lm-DEA. The first one is non-uniformities in the membrane leading to premature local dielectric breakdown.…”

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confidence: 99%

Printing low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators

Poulin

Rosset

Shea

2015

Applied Physics Letters

139

126

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“…Typically, these devices are composed of a large number of films to obtain a large cumulative displacement. Three types of stacking have been proposed: multi-layer stacking (Schlaak et al, 2005;Lotz et al, 2011), where separate EAP films are stacked on top of each other, stacking in a helical structure (Carpi et al, 2005), and a folded dielectric elastomer (Carpi et al, 2007), where an EAP strip is coated with flexible electrodes and folded to a stacked shape. Practically, demonstrated that such a device composed of ∼ 350 dielectric films is capable of lifting a weight of 2.1 [kg] to a height 2.5 [mm].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stacked dielectric tubes with electromechanically controlled radii

Cohen

2017

International Journal of Solids and Structures

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This work examines the features and capabilities of a tube comprised of stacked cylindrical dielectric layers separated by flexible electrodes with the applicative aim of electrically controlling the inner radius. The study begins with the analysis of the non-homogenous electromechanical response of a single-layer dielectric tube according to well-established coupled models. Two boundary conditions are examined -traction free boundaries and a fixed outer radius. The advantages and limitations of each boundary conditions are discussed. It is shown that dielectric tubes subjected to traction free boundaries experience instabilities, an effect that can be avoided by fixing the outer surface. Next, the electromechanical behavior of a stacked cylindrical actuator comprised of dielectric tubes that are mechanically connected in series and electrically connected in parallel is determined under the two boundary conditions discussed above. It is shown that the stacking of cylindrical layers increases the range of available inner radii at the cost of design limitations. Interestingly, it is found that mounting layers on a stacked cylindrical actuator may lead to instabilities even if the outer radius is fixed.

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“…Most DEA devices to date have been at least cm-scale (e.g., arm-wrestling robots [3], or compact motors [4]; see [5] for a review) to meter-scale (e.g., for energy harvesting from waves [6] or for airships [7]). Yet, there is an increasing research activity on mm-scale devices, for instance for tactile displays [8,9] and interest in going to even smaller scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Carbon powder has negligible impact on the stiffness, but it is not cleanroom compatible. Lotz et al have sprayed graphite powder over a shadow mask in order to fabricate mm-size stacked actuators used in peristaltic pumps or tactile displays [9]. In earlier work, our group has demonstrated the effective scaling of DEAs to the mm-scale using electrodes made by low-energy (5 keV) gold ion implantation into PDMS [12,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microfabrication and characterization of an array of dielectric elastomer actuators generating uniaxial strain to stretch individual cells

Akbari¹,

Shea²

2012

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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Cells regulate their behavior in response to mechanical strains. Cell cultures to study mechanotransuction are typically cm 2 in area, far too large to monitor single cell response. We have developed an array of dielectric elastomer microactuators as a tool to study mechanotransduction of individual cells. The array consists of 72 100 μm × 200 μm electroactive polymer actuators which expand uniaxially when a voltage is applied. Single cells will be attached on each actuator to study their response to periodic mechanical strains. The device is fabricated by patterning compliant microelectrodes on both sides of a 30 μm thick polydimethylsiloxane membrane, which is bonded to a Pyrex chip with 200 μm wide trenches. Low-energy metal ion implantation is used to make stretchable electrodes and we demonstrate here the successful miniaturization of such ion-implanted electrodes. The top electrode covers the full membrane area, while the bottom electrodes are 100 μm wide parallel lines, perpendicular to the trenches. Applying a voltage between the top and bottom electrodes leads to uniaxial expansion of the membrane at the intersection of the bottom electrodes and the trenches. To characterize the in-plane strain, an array of 4 μm diameter aluminum dots is deposited on each actuator. The position of each dot is tracked, allowing displacement and strain profiles to be measured as a function of voltage. The uniaxial strain reaches 4.7% at 2.9 kV with a 0.2 s response time, sufficient to stimulate most cells with relevant biological strains and frequencies.

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Fabrication and Application of Miniaturized Dielectric Elastomer Stack Actuators

Cited by 163 publications

References 20 publications

Printing low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators

Printing low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators

Stacked dielectric tubes with electromechanically controlled radii

Microfabrication and characterization of an array of dielectric elastomer actuators generating uniaxial strain to stretch individual cells

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