Dielectric elastomer film with anisotropic actuation deformation on film plane

摘要

A new dielectric elastomer (DE) film, which was able to show anisotropic large plane deformation actuated by an external electric field, was designed and synthesized. Specifically, an asymmetric di-vinyl monomer cyclohex-3-enylmethyl acrylate (CEA) was incorporated into the middle block of poly(styrene-b-butyl acrylate-b-styrene) as potential crosslinking points. By widely used UV curing technique through a mask, the DE films could be locally hardened any area one selected. This could break the symmetry of the actuation deformation on the DE film plane, maximizing the deformation in a given direction while the actuation area strain remained unchanged. The actuation strain(y)/strain(x) reached 2.3, strain in x direction was 10.3% while in y direction was 23%, when the DE film of S(BA-ran-CEA)S with 2.5 mol % CEA incorporated was locally hardened in the form of soft and hard belt of 1 mm width alternatively along y direction. (c) 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 137, 48795.