Analysis of the Novel Strain Responsive Actuators of Silicone Dielectric Elastomer

Abstract

The acrylic acid and silicone are common dielectric elastomer materials. These actuators have shown excellent activate properties including large strains up to 380% and high energy densities up to 3.4 J/g, high efficiency, high responsive speed , good reliability and durability, etc. When a voltage is applied on the compliant electrodes of the dielectric elastomers, the polymer shrinks along with the electric field and expands in the plain area which erects the orientation of the line. In this paper, we synthesize a novel silicone dielectric elastomer with high dielectric constant, large strain and high force output. Pre-strain and certain driving electric field are applied on the novel silicone film, respectively. The strain responsing to the Maxwell stress is measured. Using the large deformation theory of finite element method to simulate the deformable behavior of materials, the simulation results agree with the experiment. The coupling effect of the mechanics and electric fields applied on the electrode of the dielectric elastomers is inverstigated. The finite element simulation of large deformation theory can be used to describe the dielectric elastomers materials large deformation that induced by the static electric field.