Robotic Materials

High-performance electromechanical transduction using laterally-constrained dielectric elastomers part I: Actuation processes

2017

Article

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A dielectric elastomer transducer is a deformable capacitor, and is under development as a sensor, actuator, or generator. Among various geometric configurations, laterally-constrained transducer, also known as pure-shear transducer, is easy to implement and effective to couple mechanical force and electrical voltage. This analytical study reveals that lateral pre-stretch enhances actuation, far exceeding previously reported actuation strokes. Laterally-constrained transducers exhibit complex electromechanical behavior. As voltage increases, an actuator may undergo electromechanical instability, or form wrinkles, or suffer electrical breakdown. We survey the behavior of actuators under all possible states of pre-stretches, and identify five modes of actuation. Our analysis predicts that laterally-constrained actuators can achieve actuation stroke of 1000% for an acrylic elastomer, and 230% for natural rubber. This …

Author(s): Soo Jin Adrian Koh and Christoph Keplinger and Rainer Kaltseis and Choon-Chiang Foo and Richard Baumgartner and Siegfried Bauer and Zhigang Suo
Journal: Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids
Volume: 105
Number (issue): 105
Pages: 81--94
Year: 2017
Month: August
Publisher: Pergamon
Department(s): Robotic Materials
Bibtex Type: Article (article)
Paper Type: Journal
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmps.2017.04.015
URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022509616309097?via%3Dihub

BibTex 

@article{Keplinger17-JMPS-Transduction,
  title = {High-performance electromechanical transduction using laterally-constrained dielectric elastomers part I: Actuation processes},
  author = {Koh, Soo Jin Adrian and Keplinger, Christoph and Kaltseis, Rainer and Foo, Choon-Chiang and Baumgartner, Richard and Bauer, Siegfried and Suo, Zhigang},
  journal = {Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids},
  volume = {105},
  number = {105},
  pages = {81--94},
  publisher = {Pergamon},
  month = aug,
  year = {2017},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jmps.2017.04.015},
  url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022509616309097?via%3Dihub},
  month_numeric = {8}
}