The need for speed

Samuel Rosset; Pit Gebbers; Benjamin M. O'Brien; Herbert R. Shea

doi:10.1117/12.914623

3 April 2012 The need for speed

Samuel Rosset, Pit Gebbers, Benjamin M. O'Brien, Herbert R. Shea

Proceedings Volume 8340, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2012; 834004 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914623
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Development of dielectric elastomer actuators has been mainly targeted towards achieving giant static strain with little attention paid to their response speed, which can, depending on materials used, be as long as tens of seconds. However, most of the practical applications require actuators capable of changing shape quickly, therefore a careful choice of materials and technologies for the dielectric and electrodes must be made. Test oscillating actuators, made with a range of silicone membranes with different hardness were tested, and the compliant electrodes were made with different technologies: carbon powder, carbon grease, conductive rubber and metal ion implantation. The transient response of the actuators to a step input was measured with a high speed camera at 5000 frames per seconds for the different combinations of membrane material and electrodes. The results show that the dynamic response of the actuators is extremely dependent on the membrane material, as expected, but also on the compliant electrodes, whose impact cannot be neglected.

Citation Download Citation

Samuel Rosset, Pit Gebbers, Benjamin M. O'Brien, and Herbert R. Shea "The need for speed", Proc. SPIE 8340, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2012, 834004 (3 April 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914623

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