Optimization study for fabrication of micro-scale stacked dielectric elastomer actuators

Implementation of Soft-Lithography Techniques for Fabrication of Bio-Inspired Multi-Layer Dielectric Elastomer Actuators with Interdigitated Mechanically Compliant Electrodes

“…Applying an additional high-speed spinning step (1000 rpm for 20 s) removed some of the excess material, but also resulted in an uneven filling of the features in some cases. Figure 4 in [19] represents three different stacked DEAs fabricated through the same fabrication process (Method II) with slightly different parameters. The force applied for removal of the excess solution is larger and the spin coating speed is increased from a through c. Although 4c appears to depict what an ideal device should look like, there are local defects and non-uniformities throughout the device.…”

“…The softness, dielectric constant, and elastic modulus of PDMS can be fine-tuned by changing the curing parameters and the concentration of the curing agent [29,30]. In order to better define the fabrication parameters of PDMS, a set of static tensile tests were performed on cross-linked PDMS (Dow Corning Sylgard 184) with different fabrication parameters following ASTM D638 standard, in a previous study [19].…”

“…In this study, novel soft lithoghraphy techniques, based on previous studies [18,19], are introduced to allow for fabrication of biomimetic stacked linear actuator systems at a small scale. The resulting structures have reduced the actuation voltages, increased actuation ratios, allowed for fabrication of free standing DEAs, and provided a feasible fabrication method to scale up the size of the actuators as needed for different applications.…”

“…(b) A different cross-sectional area of the same stacked actuator modified in ImageJ to highlight the MWCNT distribution in the actuator. Image from[19].…”