A processable, high-performance dielectric elastomer and multilayering process

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) can act as deformable capacitors that generate mechanical work in response to an electric field. DEs are often based on commercial acrylic and silicone elastomers. Acrylics require prestretching to achieve high actuation strains and lack processing flexibility. Silicones allow for processability and rapid response but produce much lower strains. In this work, a processable, high-performance dielectric elastomer (PHDE) with a bimodal network structure is synthesized, and its electromechanical properties are tailored by adjusting cross-linkers and hydrogen bonding within the elastomer network. The PHDE exhibits a maximum areal strain of 190% and maintains strains higher than 110% at 2 hertz without prestretching. A dry stacking process with high efficiency, scalability, and yield enables multilayer actuators that maintain the high actuation performance of single-layer films. Dielectric elastomers are a type of electroactive polymer that can transform electrical energy into mechanical work. They are often made from silicone or acrylic elastomers. Silicone materials are easier to process but have lower strains, whereas acrylics require prestrectching to achieve high strains. Shi et al . designed a dielectric elastomer based on acrylates in which the selection of monomers, the use of both a short and long cross-linker molecules, and the ability to control hydrogen bonding enabled fine tuning of the stress-strain responses and viscoelasticity. The authors further developed a method to dry stack the elastomeric sheets without a loss of properties that is more compatible with current large-scale fabrication processes. —MSL An acrylate-based processable, high-performance dielectric elastomer has tunable electromechanical properties.