Experimental studies on acrylic dielectric elastomers as actuator for artificial skeletal muscle application

Abstract

The application of acrylic dielectric elastomer - an electrically actuated electro active polymer for artificial muscles has been investigated to evaluate its suitability for prosthetic and orthotic devices by comparing its mechanical and electrical properties similar to that of natural skeletal muscles. Experimental studies have been performed to get the properties of acrylic dielectric elastomers for design and development of artificial skeletal muscles. Therefore, a commercially available acrylic dielectric elastomer; VHB 4910 by 3M film is subjected to uniaxial tensile tests under varying rates, stress relaxation test and loading-unloading test on the universal testing machines and undergoes an electrical actuation test after pre-straining. The results of such tests have been discussed separately and then compared with previous researches on skeletal muscles as well. Moreover, the material response is also observed highly viscous and hyper-elastic, i.e., sensitive to very high strain rates as in the case of skeletal muscles. These results can be utilised in material selection to develop dielectric elastomer actuator applications for artificial muscles.