Dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) are attractive candidates for harvesting electrical energy from mechanical work since they comprise relatively few moving parts and large elastomer sheets can be mass produced. Successfully demonstrations of the DEG prototypes have been reported from a diverse of energy sources, including ocean waves, wind, flowing water and human movement. The energy dens...

It is previously known that under inflation alone a spherical rubber membrane balloon may bifurcate into a pear shape when the tension in the membrane reaches a maximum, but the existence of such a maximum depends on the material model used: the maximum exists for the Ogden model, but does not exist for the neoHookean, Mooney-Rivlin or Gent model. This paper discusses how such a situation is ch...

An elastomer-based energy storage system for MEMS has been designed, built, and tested. Micro rubber bands have been fabricated from silicone using two different methods, laser-cut and molded, and assembled into silicon microstructures fabricated in a two-mask silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process. Using silicon hooks and force gauges designed in this process, these micro rubber bands have been ch...

The application of a sufficiently strong strain perpendicular to the pitch axis of a monodomain cholesteric elastomer unwinds the cholesteric helix. Previous theoretical analyses of this transition ignored the effects of Frank elasticity which we include here. We find that the strain needed to unwind the helix is reduced because of the Frank penalty and the cholesteric state becomes metastable ...

In the present study, two types of tests (tensile strength test and polymerization inhibition test) were performed to evaluate the physical and chemical properties of four impression materials [a polysulfide (Permlastic), a polyether (Impregum), a condensation silicone (Xantopren) and a polyvinylsiloxane (Aquasil)] when polymerized in contact with of one conventional (Hemostop) and two experime...

In this article, we report on a flexible sensor based on a sandpaper molded elastomer that simultaneously detects planar displacement, rotation angle, and vertical contact pressure. When displacement, rotation, and contact pressure are applied, the contact area between the translating top elastomer electrode and the stationary three bottom electrodes change characteristically depending on the m...

Antioxidant polysulfide nanoparticles can be electrospun within nanofibre scaffold patches to provide anti-inflammatory action.

Recently developed high-speed ionic devices require adherent laminates of stretchable and dissimilar materials, such as gels and elastomers. Adhesion between stretchable and dissimilar materials also plays important roles in medicine, stretchable electronics, and soft robots. Here we develop a method to characterize adhesion between materials capable of large, elastic deformation. We apply the ...

● TABLE II Thin Layer ... Abstract TOP The cause of silicone gel implant aging and rupture is not known. Recent reports indicate the failure rate is higher than previously published, and implant aging and rupture may be due to progressive mechanical deterioration of the outer vulcanized silicone shell. It is known that lipids are absorbed by the hydrophobic silicone elastomer, and lipid infiltr...

CuInS(2) nanotube (NT) arrays were synthesized on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates for the first time using a successive ionic layer absorption and reaction (SILAR) process with self-dissolved ZnO nanowire (NW) templates. The p-type CuInS(2) NT array shows promising conversion efficiency in a photoelectrochemical cell with polysulfide electrolyte.