Blocked force measurement of an electro-active paper actuator using a cantilevered forcetransducer

Abstract

The blocked force of an electro-active paper (EAPap) actuator was measured by acustom-built force transducer. The tip deflection of the force transducer was measuredand converted into force using a simple Euler beam model. Since the blockedforce is the maximum force generated at the tip of a bending actuator withoutdisplacement, the blocked force was found from the measured force of the transducer byextrapolating it. The force transducer was made from a thin steel cantilever beam andcalibrated using a linear stage and a micro-balance. The measured maximum freebending displacement of the EAPap actuator was 4.4 mm and the blocked force was224 µN under350 V mm−1 AC electricfield and 33 µN under DC electric field with the same field strength. When an AC electric field was appliedto the actuator, the generated blocked force of the EAPap was about 700% largerthan that caused by DC excitation. The proposed blocked force measurement isaccurate down to a micro-Newton resolution under DC as well as AC electricfields.