Synthesizing a new dielectric elastomer exhibiting large actuation strain and suppressed electromechanical instability without prestretching

Niu, Xiaofan; Stoyanov, Hristiyan; Hu, Wei; Leo, Ruby; Brochu, Paul; Pei, Qibing

doi:10.1002/polb.23197

Cited by 121 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Interpenetrating networks (IPNs) for DEAP uses have been extensively investigated by Pei et al but with the main focus on the acrylic elastomers [7][8][9] where the IPNs are used mainly as a tool to obtain a prestretched elastomer. In this work a new approach based on interpenetrating silicone networks with orthogonal chemistries will be investigated with focus on developing soft and flexible elastomers with high energy densities and small viscous losses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft silicone based interpenetrating networks as materials for actuators

González

Hvilsted

et al. 2014

SPIE Proceedings

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A new approach based on silicone interpenetrating networks with orthogonal chemistries has been investigated with focus on developing soft and flexible elastomers with high energy densities and small viscous losses. The interpenetrating networks are made as simple two pot mixtures as for the commercial available silylation based elastomers such as Elastosil RT625. The resulting interpenetrating networks are formulated to be softer than RT625 to increase the actuation caused when applying a voltage due to their softness combined with the significantly higher permittivity than the pure silicone elastomers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft silicone based interpenetrating networks as materials for actuators

González

Hvilsted

et al. 2014

SPIE Proceedings

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“…(1), the operation voltage can be reduced by optimizing the material properties and Y, or reducing t m . Lower Young's modulus can be achieved by decreasing the cross-link density 12 or by adding plasticizers 13 to the elastomer. This approach however decreases the mechanical robustness and the energy density of the materials.…”

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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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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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“…(a ) S t a t ic m o d e o f a c t u a t io n a n d (fa) d y n a m ic m o d e o f a c tu a tio n . between the static and dynamic instability parameters for the Ogden material model is only illustrative and a thorough paramet ric investigation can be carried out making use of the expressions developed in the present work. Such an effort could be useful in tuning the material properties in order to obtain desired instability thresholds during operation [62].…”

Section: Comparison Of Static and Dynamic Instabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

An Energy-Based Approach to Extract the Dynamic Instability Parameters of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Joglekar

2014

Journal of Applied Mechanics

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An energy-based approach is presented to extract the thresholds on the transient dynamic response of step voltage driven dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). The proposed approach relies on establishing the energy balance at the point of maximum stretch in an oscillation cycle followed by the application of an instability condition to extract the dynamic instability parameters. Explicit expressions are developed for the critical values of maximum stretch and the corresponding nominal electric field, thus circumventing the need to perform iterative time-integrations of the equation of motion. The underlying principles of the approach are enunciated for the neo-Hookean material model and further extended to analyze relatively complex multiparameter hyperelastic models (Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden) that are employed prevalently for investigating the behavior of DEAs. The dynamic instability parameters predicted using the energy method are vali dated by examining the time-history response of the actuator in the vicinity of the dynamic instability. The development of dynamic instability parameters is complemented by energy-based extraction of static instability parameters to facilitate a quick compari son between the two. It is inferred quantitatively that the nominal electric field sufficient to cause the dynamic instability and the corresponding thickness stretch is lower than those corresponding to the static instability. A set of representative case studies for multi parameter material models is presented at the end, which can be used as an input for fur ther experimental corroboration. The results of the present investigation can find their potential use in the design of DEAs subjected to transient loading.

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Synthesizing a new dielectric elastomer exhibiting large actuation strain and suppressed electromechanical instability without prestretching

Cited by 121 publications

References 31 publications

Soft silicone based interpenetrating networks as materials for actuators

Soft silicone based interpenetrating networks as materials for actuators

Printing low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators

An Energy-Based Approach to Extract the Dynamic Instability Parameters of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

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