Highly Stretchable Silicone Elastomer Applied in Soft Actuators

Hu, Pengpeng; Albuquerque, Fabio Beco; Madsen, Jeppe; Skov, Anne Ladegaard

doi:10.1002/marc.202100732

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Additionally, the inclusion of fillers in silicon-based composite polymers has been shown to improve dielectric properties and increase breakdown strength [66]. Moreover, some studies have focused on developing silicone-based, highly stretchable elastomers capable of enduring extensive cycling [67].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An electromechanically driven dielectric elastomer based tunable reflector

Kashyap,

Agrawal,

Kumar

et al. 2024

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Deformable optics offer numerous advantages over conventional optical assemblies, including compactness, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility. This study focuses on a reflector based on Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) with an internal fluid (air) coupling. DEAs are a class of electroactive materials adept at accommodating substantial actuation strains and rapid responses. Fluid distributed between the active and passive parts remains entirely enclosed by the device and transmits actuation pneumatically. Dynamic maneuvers conducted through a series of controlled electrical signals demonstrate proper control over optical characteristics. However, DEs exhibit inherent flaws in dynamic actuation, referred to as instabilities, which are mitigated by applying an initial pre-stretch. The study identifies optimal parameters that confer stability to the reflector: minimum to no creep, zero residual vibrations, and low viscous losses. An analytical framework is developed to assess device performance, focusing on the spherical curvature assumption that closely resembles the behavior of tunable spherical reflectors. Additionally, an optical bench setup is employed to demonstrate the relationship between focal length and applied pressure. Notably, this paper underscores the potential of a DE-based variable focal length reflector to function effectively within a dynamic environment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An electromechanically driven dielectric elastomer based tunable reflector

Kashyap,

Agrawal,

Kumar

et al. 2024

Smart Mater. Struct.

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“…The need to use DC voltage higher than 1 kV requires the application of additional specific semiconductor devices, which leads to more complications to activate and control DE actuators. High voltage can harm the human tissues and destroy the device employed, which limits the usage of dielectric materials in medical applications [22][23][24][25][26]. Therefore, to apply them in the medical field requires the reduction of driving voltage.…”

Section: Dielectric Elastomersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroactive Polymer-Based Composites for Artificial Muscle-like Actuators: A Review

et al. 2022

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Unlike traditional actuators, such as piezoelectric ceramic or metallic actuators, polymer actuators are currently attracting more interest in biomedicine due to their unique properties, such as light weight, easy processing, biodegradability, fast response, large active strains, and good mechanical properties. They can be actuated under external stimuli, such as chemical (pH changes), electric, humidity, light, temperature, and magnetic field. Electroactive polymers (EAPs), called ‘artificial muscles’, can be activated by an electric stimulus, and fixed into a temporary shape. Restoring their permanent shape after the release of an electrical field, electroactive polymer is considered the most attractive actuator type because of its high suitability for prosthetics and soft robotics applications. However, robust control, modeling non-linear behavior, and scalable fabrication are considered the most critical challenges for applying the soft robotic systems in real conditions. Researchers from around the world investigate the scientific and engineering foundations of polymer actuators, especially the principles of their work, for the purpose of a better control of their capability and durability. The activation method of actuators and the realization of required mechanical properties are the main restrictions on using actuators in real applications. The latest highlights, operating principles, perspectives, and challenges of electroactive materials (EAPs) such as dielectric EAPs, ferroelectric polymers, electrostrictive graft elastomers, liquid crystal elastomers, ionic gels, and ionic polymer–metal composites are reviewed in this article.

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“…However, reliable and reproducible fabrication of the dielectric films below 20 μm is challenging and costly with existing methodologies. Another way to prepare DEAs operating at low voltages is using soft elastomers, which can be prepared by, for example, reducing the crosslinking density or by crosslinking of bottle brush PDMS. , However, most DEAs suffer from a low level of tangible forces of the actuator due to the combination of both low Y and low ε r . Thus, focus in this work is on achieving large strain and low voltages by simultaneously increasing ε r and lowering Y with inclusion of ionic liquids (ILs) grafted to the polymer chains in order to avoid the ILs to migrate under the high electrical field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crosslinking Methodology for Imidazole-Grafted Silicone Elastomers Allowing for Dielectric Elastomers Operated at Low Electrical Fields with High Strains

Kang

Nie

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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For improved actuation at low voltages of dielectric elastomers, a high dielectric permittivity has been targeted for several years but most successful methods then either increase the stiffness of the elastomer and/or introduce notable losses of both mechanical and dielectric nature. For polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based elastomers, most high-permittivity moieties inhibit the sensitive platinum catalyst used in the addition curing scheme. In contrast to the classical addition curing pathway to prepare PDMS elastomers, here, an alternative strategy is reported to prepare PDMS elastomers via the crosslinking reaction between multifunctional imidazole-grafted PDMS with difunctional bis(1-ethylene-imidazole-3-ium) bromide ionic liquid (bis-IL). The prepared IL-elastomer entails uniformly dispersed IL and presents stable mechanical and dielectric properties due to the covalent nature of the crosslinking as opposed to previously reported physical mixing in of ILs. The relative permittivity was improved up to 200% by including the bis-IL in the elastomer, and Young's modulus was around 0.04 MPa. As a result of the excellent combination of properties, the dielectric actuator developed exhibits an area strain of 20% at 15 V/μm. The novel strategy to prepare PDMS elastomers provides a new paradigm for achieving high-performance dielectric elastomer actuators by a simple methodology.

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Highly Stretchable Silicone Elastomer Applied in Soft Actuators

Cited by 12 publications

References 48 publications

An electromechanically driven dielectric elastomer based tunable reflector

An electromechanically driven dielectric elastomer based tunable reflector

Electroactive Polymer-Based Composites for Artificial Muscle-like Actuators: A Review

Crosslinking Methodology for Imidazole-Grafted Silicone Elastomers Allowing for Dielectric Elastomers Operated at Low Electrical Fields with High Strains

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