Dielectric electroactive polymers have demonstrated their significant potential in a variety of applications due to their material strength and elastomeric material properties. Mechanical pre-strain has been shown to enhance material actuation potential significantly. However, with this enhancement comes sacrifices. Mechanical pre-strain imposes a stiff mechanical boundary on the dielectric material in order to maintain the strain. In this research, investigations were made into the mechanisms of mechanical pre-strain and into alternate pre-strain methods. These studies discovered alternate methods capable of producing enhanced pre-strains and final actuation without the addition of the solid strain boundary.

Date Published: 15 April 2016
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9798, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2016, 979837 (15 April 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2220098

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9798:
Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2016
Yoseph Bar-Cohen; Frédéric Vidal, Editor(s)