Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Investigation of electrostrictive polymers as actuators for mesoscale devices

  • Original Article
  • Published:
The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstact

This paper presents an investigation of the use of electrostrictive silicone polymers as actuators for mesoscale devices. The generated strains of both flat and rolled actuators, based on Dow Corning Sylgard 182 and 184, with sputtered gold electrodes, are presented as functions of the applied electric field. Variables examined in this study include silicone film thickness, gold electrode thickness, cycling of the applied electric field, and actuator configuration (flat or rolled). In general, thinner silicone films and gold electrodes yielded greater strains, at a constant applied field. The actuator performance tended to deteriorate with repeated application of the electric field, and the gold electrodes cracked after being subjected to a large percentage strain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

A :

Cross sectional area, mm2

a 1 , a 2 :

electrostrictive constants, m2/V2

D :

diameter, mm

E :

electric field, V/m

ε o :

permittivity of free space, F/m

ε :

dielectric constant for silicones, F/m

F :

force, N

J :

work, J

l :

length, μm

S ij :

strain tensor, dimensionless

S ijkl :

tensor of elastic compliance coefficients, μm

t :

thickness, μm

T kl :

stress tensor, Pa

u i :

displacement vector, mm

V :

volume, mm3

ν :

Poisson ratio, dimensionless

w :

width, μm

Y :

Young’s modulus, Pa

References

  1. Tabib-Azar M (1998) Microactuators electrical, magnetic, thermal, optical, mechanical, chemical and smart structures. Kluwer Academic, Boston

  2. Pelrine R, Eckerle J, Chiba S (1992) Review of artificial muscles approaches. Third International Symposium on Micro Machine and Human Science Proceedings, Nagoya, Japan

  3. Pelrine R, Kornbluh R, Joseph J, Chiba S (1995) Electrostriction of polymers films for microactuators. Proceedings of Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS), IEEE, pp 238–243

  4. Pelrine R, Kornbluh RD, Joseph J (1998) Electrostriction of polymer dielectrics with compliant electrodes as a means of actuation. Sensors Actuat A-Phys 64:77–85

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kornbluh R, Pelrine R, Eckerle J, Joseph J (1998) Electrostrictive polymer artificial muscle actuators. Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation, Leuven, Belgium, pp 2147–2154

  6. Kornbluh R, Pelrine R, Joseph J, Heydt R, Pei Q, Chiba S (1999) High-field electrostriction of elastomeric polymer dielectrics for actuation. SPIE Conference on Electroactive Polymers Actuators and Devices, Newport Beach, CA, pp 149–161

  7. Mujezinovic A (1999) Electrostriction of silicone polymers. MS Thesis, Arizona State University, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

  8. Ikeda T (1990) Fundamentals of piezoelectricity. Oxford Science Publications, University Press, Oxford

  9. Krakovsky I, Romijn T, Posthuma de Boer A (1999) A few remarks on the electrostriction of elastomers. J Appl Phys 85:628–629

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

One of the authors (P.E.P.) gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation through an NSF CAREER Award (Grant No. CTS-9696003). The authors also wish to thank David Wright for his assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

    R. Trujillo & J. Mou

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

    P. E. Phelan & D. S. Chau

Authors
  1. R. Trujillo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Mou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. P. E. Phelan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. D. S. Chau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Mou.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Trujillo, R., Mou, J., Phelan, P.E. et al. Investigation of electrostrictive polymers as actuators for mesoscale devices. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 23, 176–182 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-003-1580-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-003-1580-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation