Induction of anisotropic motions in dielectric elastomer actuators by additive manufacturing

S. Martin; J. Riethmüller; C. Weigand; S. Reitelshöfer; J. Franke

doi:10.1117/12.2613071

20 April 2022 Induction of anisotropic motions in dielectric elastomer actuators by additive manufacturing

S. Martin, J. Riethmüller, C. Weigand, S. Reitelshöfer, J. Franke

Proceedings Volume 12042, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXIV; 120420D (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2613071
Event: SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation, 2022, Long Beach, California, United States

Abstract

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) exhibit homogeneous driving behavior due to the incompressible material properties of the homogeneous dielectric. This causes the system to expand uniformly in-plane while decreasing its height. In many applications, however, linear actuation is required and the system must be adjusted to operate unidirectionally. For this purpose, different approaches, such as rolling or mechanical stiffening of the actuator, are presented in literature, which aim at adjusting the DEA to work in one direction. In addition, pre-stretching the elastomer film in the required direction can cause the uniaxial motion. Furthermore, there are reports of interpenetrating networks (IPN) forming an anisotropic network that behaves differently depending on the direction. However, these modifications require either external, usually rigid hardware, or additional manufacturing steps that increase the complexity of the process. In the present work, an anisotropic expansion is introduced by our additive manufacturing technique based on aerosol jet printing. By varying the material distribution and the printing of different patterns, the mechanical and electrical properties are changed, resulting in anisotropic driving behavior. In-plane motion is observed with a camera, and the relationship between longitudinal and transverse strain is evaluated using image processing. Systematic design of experiments (DoE) is used to analyze the influencing factors and determine the most promising system design and achievable aspect ratio.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

S. Martin, J. Riethmüller, C. Weigand, S. Reitelshöfer, and J. Franke "Induction of anisotropic motions in dielectric elastomer actuators by additive manufacturing", Proc. SPIE 12042, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXIV, 120420D (20 April 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2613071

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