This paper reports two classes of electroactive polymers developed recently which exhibit very high strain and elastic energy density. In the first class of the electroactive polymer, i.e., the defects modified poly(vinylidene fluoridetrifluoroethylene)(P(VDF-TrFE)) polymers, an electrostrictive strain of more than 7% and an elastic energy density above 1 J/cm³ can be induced under a field of 150 MV/m. The large electrostrictive strain in this class of polymers originates from the local molecular conformation change between the trans-gauche bonds and all trans bonds, which accompanies the field induced transformation from the non-polar phase to the polar phase. The second class of the polymer is an all organic composite, which shows a very high dielectric constant (>400) and high strain induced with a low applied field (2% strain under 13 MV/m). The strain is proportional to the applied field and the composite has an elastic modulus near 1 GPa.

Date Published: 28 July 2003
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 5051, Smart Structures and Materials 2003: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), (28 July 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.484308

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5051:
Smart Structures and Materials 2003: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD)
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Editor(s)