Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are usually composed of elastomeric membranes and electrodes, which are separately fabricated and patterned. In this contribution, we describe a method to monolithically fabricate DEAs that combines molding and microfluidic technologies. In our process, microfluidic channels having desired electrode geometry are formed in a single, monolithic elastomeric matrix, and then liquid conductive material is injected into it. This fabrication method is expected to be effective for making DEAs with multiple sets of electrodes as they can be formed at once. In addition, it potentially enables easy fabrication of DEAs with complicated shapes. We prove the concept through the fabrication and characterization of a DEA that contains a single set of electrodes. A PDMS (Dow Corning, Sylgard 184) and a liquid metal (EGaIn) are chosen as the materials for the elastomeric matrix and the electrodes, respectively. Polylactic acid (PLA) is used as the molding parts made by a commercial FDM 3D printer. After curing the PDMS matrix with microfluidic channel, EGaIn is injected using a vacuum filling method, forming a monolithic DEA ready to be tested. The fabricated DEA has an active electrode area of 10 mm × 10 mm with a gap between the electrodes of 0.5 mm. During the characterization, the device exhibited actuated deformation of 13.2 um at applied electric field of 9 V/um.
Slide ring materials (SRMs), a novel type of elastomer recently developed, are a promising material for dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), because of their unique properties such as high dielectric permittivity and low hysteresis. However, limited information is available on the electromechanical characteristics of SRMs. Here, we report on preliminary results of our ongoing study that is intended to clarify the electromechanical performance of SRMs, while comparing with other commercial elastomers (VHB 4905 and CF19-2186). Characterizations are performed using DEA samples with an aspect ratio of 10 (length:width = 1:10) that are mounted on a universal testing machine measuring the actuated force and strain. All the elastomers were processed into the same DEA sample geometry, and were tested under identical experimental conditions. The results show advantageous features of the SRMs, such as, much larger actuated force and strain compared to the other commercial elastomers under the same electric field.
Slide-ring materials (SRM) are novel polymeric elastomers which are prepared from necklace-like supramolecule, polyrotaxane, consisting of ring molecules and axial polymer. By cross-linking rings of polyrotaxanes, axial polymer chains are connected via ring molecules which can slide on polymer chains. The slidability of the cross-linking points leads to softness and deformability of SRMs. In this work, we investigate the unique mechanical properties of SRMs to apply them to dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). From dynamic viscoelasticity measurements, we have found that SRMs exhibit entropic elasticity and low elastic modulus. The stress strain relation of SRMs under uniaxial deformation follows ideal rubber elasticity model in a wide strain range, suggesting homogeneous and reversible network deformation caused by the sliding of cross-linking points in SRMs. The ideal rubber elasticity of SRMs results in their softness and low hysteresis under large deformation, which are advantages for the application as dielectric elastomer actuators.
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