Due to their large strain capability, dielectric elastomers are promising materials for application as transducers in cameras, robots, valves, pumps, energy harvesters, and so on. The dielectric elastomer transducers are based on the deformation of a soft polymer membrane contracting in thickness and expanding in area, induced by the application of a voltage across the two compliant electrodes ...

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are being exploited for biological applications such as artificial blood pumps, biomimetic grippers and biomimetic robots. Generally, polyacrylate and silicone rubber (SR) are the most widely used materials for fabricating DEs in terms of mixing with other polymers or compounding them with highly dielectric particles. Furthermore, pre-stretch offers an effective appr...

Electroactive polymers have been studied for artificial muscle applications in last decades. One of the EAP materials, 3M VHB acrylic tapes, have shown been outstanding electromechanical coupling performance. The scope of this study is to understand the electromechanical properties of VHB acrylic material. In addition, the research explores new practical designs of soft actuators. The basic des...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial effect of silverized elastomers on mutans streptococci in dental plaque. METHODS Forty patients undergoing orthodontic treatment were randomly placed into 1 of 2 groups. We examined the maxillary right and left central incisors and premolars, and the mandibular right and left canines of all participants. We ligated the r...

This paper contains a thorough investigation into plane-strain electroelastic surface instabilities of dielectric elastomers. We employ systematic approach to our investigation, introducing three ways actuate an elastomer device, namely, actuation by means (1) attached compliant electrodes, (2) sprayed charges onto the opposite surfaces, and (3) fixed electrodes between which device “floats” in...