The electro-mechanical performance of electro-active polymer based actuators fabricated using ultra thin metal electrode

Electro-active polymer based actuators of diameter 10 mm were fabricated by sputter deposited ultra thin metal film with varying thicknesses from 6 to 15 nm. The mechanical properties of these actuators were then studied using bulge test method and their effective elastic modulus and residual stress were evaluated. Fabricated actuator with 6 nm electrode thickness was found to be compliant with the polymer and capable to sustain its electrical conductivity even with the vertical displacement up to 1.2 mm. Application of voltage with field strength up to 44 MV/m and at low frequencies (<10 Hz) leads to operate these actuators in buckling mode with vertical displacement up to 150 mu m. With increasing the frequency of the actuating voltage up to 1.6 kHz, two vibrational resonant modes were observed. The values of the resonance frequency were found to decrease with increasing the actuating voltage. Hence, it can be used as voltage regulated frequency tunable actuators. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.