Improving electromechanical strain of polyurethanes via optimizing electric field ramp rate and actuator size

摘要

Oligomer-plasticized polyurethanes were fabricated and their mechanical properties, dielectric properties, and electro-mechanical actuations in a diaphragm configuration were investigated. The effect of the ramp rate of electric field and the diameter of actuators on the actuation was tested in detail. We found that choosing appropriate parameters can suppress the leakage current and reduce the visco-elastic resistance, resulting in improved actuated strain. Under near optimal conditions, the polyurethane with 1 phr (per hundred resin) plasticizer displayed a deflection strain as high as 1800% (around 12% of diameter) at 42 V/mu m, providing an effective actuated work of 1.8 J/cm(3). The optimized conditions are material specific, however the present analysis can be extended to other dielectric elastomers to aid in the design and fabrication of better actuators. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.