Abstract
The dielectric elastomer (DE) is a new kind of functional polymer that can be used as a smart actuator due to the large deformation induced by voltage excitation. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are usually excited by dynamic voltages to generate alternating motions. DEAs are prone to premature breakdown failure during the dynamic excitation, while the research on the breakdown of DEAs under cyclic voltage excitation is still not fully revealed. In this paper, the dynamic breakdown behaviors of DEAs made from VHB4910 film were experimentally investigated. The factors affecting the breakdown behavior of DEAs under dynamic voltages were determined, and the relevant changing laws were summarized accordingly. The experimental results show that under dynamic voltage excitation, the critical breakdown voltage of DEAs were augmented slowly with voltage frequency and showed a substantial dispersion. In addition, the maximum cycle numbers before breakdown were significantly affected by voltage parameters (such as frequency, amplitude, waveform). Finally, the underlying mechanisms of breakdown under cyclic voltages were discussed qualitatively, a power-law equation was proposed to characterize the maximum cycle number for the dynamic breakdown of DEAs, and related parameters were fitted. This study provides a new path to predict the service life of DEAs under dynamic voltage.
Highlights
Soft robots with compliant bodies have become a research hotspot in recent years, and different kinds of soft smart robots and robotic machines have been designed and optimized (Alatorre Troncoso et al, 2018; Nan et al, 2018, 2019; Wang et al, 2018; Dong et al, 2019)
Chen and Wang (2015), Chen et al (2015) theoretically investigated the dynamic response of the balloon subject to a combination of pressure and periodic voltage. They concluded that the balloon is at its most susceptible to dynamic electromechanical instability, such as snap-through and snap-back, when the superharmonic, harmonic, or subharmonic resonance is excited. de Saint-Aubin et al (2018) experimentally studied the electromechanical aging of Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) with different carbon-based electrodes, the results show that the aging in electrode resistance and actuation strain mainly depends on the total accumulated time
By comparing the experimental results of dynamic breakdown with quasi-static breakdown, we found that breakdown voltages under cyclic voltage excitation increased slowly and showed a large dispersity
Summary
Soft robots with compliant bodies have become a research hotspot in recent years, and different kinds of soft smart robots and robotic machines have been designed and optimized (Alatorre Troncoso et al, 2018; Nan et al, 2018, 2019; Wang et al, 2018; Dong et al, 2019). Dielectric elastomer (DE), as a main branch of electronic EAPs, Dynamic Breakdown of Dielectric Elastomer received a great amount of attention due to their properties of large deformation, fast response, and high electromechanical conversion efficiency. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are always subject to cyclic voltage excitation to realize alternating deformation in actual applications (Loverich et al, 2006; Zhu et al, 2010; Hosoya et al, 2015), such as micro-pumps, and vibration in structures. DEAs are prone to premature breakdown failure during the dynamic actuation, yet the systematic research on the breakdown of DEAs under cyclic voltage excitation still remains rare. Experimental data on the dynamic breakdown behavior of circular DEAs made of VHB 4910 film were presented for the first time.
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