Harnessing electromechanical membrane wrinkling for actuation

Andrew T. Conn*, Jonathan Rossiter

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Dielectric elastomers are soft electromechanical transducers that can exhibit unstable wrinkling behavior under large electric fields. This instability can be exploited by optimizing electrode boundaries to accentuate or attenuate localized wrinkling. An analytical model is presented, which demonstrates that the critical electric field to induce wrinkling can be lowered as the electrode geometry changes from convex to concave. This allows a single dielectric elastomer membrane to generate either biaxial or uniaxial extension in specific regions. A prototype 56 mu m thick membrane actuator incorporates this principle to generate an in-plane rotational output, producing an actuation stroke of 15.7 degrees. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4764101]

Original languageEnglish
Article number171906
Number of pages4
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume101
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Oct 2012

Research Groups and Themes

  • Tactile Action Perception

Keywords

  • DIELECTRIC ELASTOMER ACTUATORS
  • PERFORMANCE

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