This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Kofod, G. Articles by Pelrine, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Actuation Response of Polyacrylate Dielectric Elastomers

Danish Polymer Centre, Risø National Laboratory, POL 124, PO Box 49, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark

Peter Sommer-Larsen

Danish Polymer Centre, Risø National Laboratory, POL 124, PO Box 49, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark, peter.sommer.larsen{at}risoe.dk

Roy Kornbluh

SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Avenue, EJ345, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA

Ron Pelrine

SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Avenue, EJ345, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA

Polyacrylate dielectric elastomers have yielded extremely large strain and elastic energy density suggesting that they are useful for many actuator applications. A thorough understanding of the physics underlying the mechanism of the observed response to an electric field can help develop improved actuators. The response is believed to be due to Maxwell stress, a quadratic dependence of the stress upon applied electric field. Based on this supposition, an equation relating the applied voltage to the measured force from an actuator was derived. Experimental data fit with the expected behavior, though there are discrepancies. Further analysis suggests that these arise mostly from imperfect manufacture of the actuators, though there is a small contribution from an explicitly electrostrictive behavior of the acrylic adhesive. Measurements of the dielectric constant of stretched polymer reveal that the dielectric constant drops, when the polymer is strained, indicating the existence of a small electrostrictive effect. Finally, measurements of the electric breakdown field were made. These also show a dependence upon the strain. In the unstrained state the breakdown field is 20 MV/m, which grows to 218 MV/m at 500 500% strain. This large increase could prove to be of importance in actuator design.

Key Words: dielectric • elastomer • adhesive • strain • actuator • electrostriction • electric • breakdown

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, Vol. 14, No. 12, 787-793 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/104538903039260


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?