Actuating abilities of electroactive carbon nanopowder/polyurethane composite films

This paper discusses the electromechanical potential improvement of polyurethane (PU) composite films by incorporation of carbon nanopowder in the polymer matrix. The beneficial influence on the electric field-induced is firstly measured and discussed. The observed non-linear mechanical behaviour of both pure PU elastomer and carbon/PU composite is described using constitutive hyperelastic Ogden Model. Finite Element Modeling with hyperelastic elements confirm the validity of the chosen model, assuming that actuation pressure is only due to electrostatic (Coulomb) forces at the electrodes. It also allows to predict the strain and stress distributions in the polymer films and the influence of the electrode size. Finally, mechanical performances of pure PU and composite C/PU disk actuators are compared in terms of strain energy density and actuation pressure under quasistatic state (non-linear actuator behaviour). The C/PU actuator exhibits an output mechanical energy increased by 50% compared to pure PU. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.