Journal
JOURNAL OF MACROMOLECULAR SCIENCE PART B-PHYSICS
Volume 51, Issue 10, Pages 2093-2104Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/00222348.2012.659617
Keywords
actuation; dielectric elastomer; dielectric properties; efficiency; mechanical properties; thermal properties
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [10972174]
- Ministry of Education of China [20100201120004]
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Dielectric elastomers (DE) are a new type of electro-active material, which is able to produce a large degree of deformation under electrical stimulation. The thermal, mechanical, and dielectric properties of the most widely used dielectric acrylic elastomer (VHB 4910), commercially available from the company 3M, were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) analyzer, respectively. DSC experiments on the VHB 4910 showed a glass transition at about -40 degrees C. VHB 4910 started to lose weight at about 250 degrees C from the TGA study. The results of DMA indicated the storage modulus of VHB 4910 increased with frequency and had a strong temperature dependence of elasticity. The dielectric constant of VHB 4910 increased as a function of temperature up to 0 degrees C, followed by a drop till 100 degrees C. The mechanical and electrical efficiency of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) of VHB 4910 were analyzed. It was demonstrated that the actuation performance is dominated by the mechanical properties of the elastomer and is less influenced by the frequency and the temperature dependence of the dielectric properties; this may be used to guide the design of actuator configurations, as well as the choice of actuator materials.
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