Electroactive strain properties of acrylic resin elastomer-based composite films

Abstract

Copper phthalocyanine oligomer (CuPc) possessing high dielectric constant was grafted onto acrylic elastomer (ACM) backbones to fabricate elastomeric nanocomposites (referred to here as ACM-g-CuPc) with high dielectric constant. High strain of ACM-g-CuPc film could be achieved at low electric field. The electric field-induced strain properties of ACM-g-CuPc films were studied from four aspects: the pre-stretch value, butyl acrylate (BA) content, active region-to-window radius ratio, and strain hysteresis. The results revealed that the area strain in the active region first increased and then decreased with the increase in the pre-stretch value; however, it increased with the increase in BA content and decreased with the increase in the active region-to-window radius ratio. When the active region-to-window radius ratio was 1:5, the ACM-g-CuPc film with 60 wt% BA content and 150 × 150 % pre-stretch value exhibited the maximum area strain of 23.8 % under an electric field of 12.5 MV m−1. In a complete driving period, ACM-g-CuPc film exhibited a strain hysteresis phenomenon, forming a strain hysteresis loop.