Electrical breakdown of an acrylic dielectric elastomer: effects of hemispherical probing electrode’s size and force

作     者：Bin Chen Matthias Kollosche Mark Stewart James Busfield Federico Carpi 

作者机构：School of Engineering and Materials ScienceQueen Mary University of LondonLondonUK Materials DivisionNational Physical LaboratoryTeddingtonUK Institute of Physics and AstronomyUniversity of PotsdamPotsdamGermany 

出 版 物：《International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials》 (国际智能和纳米材料杂志（英文）)

年 卷 期：2015年第6卷第4期

页      面：290-303页

核心收录：

学科分类：08[工学] 0812[工学-计算机科学与技术（可授工学、理学学位）] 

基　　金：B.Chen would like to acknowledge sponsorship from the UK National Physical Laboratory the China Scholarship Council and the European Scientific Network for Artificial Muscles-ESNAM(COST Action MP1003) 

主　　题：actuator EAP electromechanically active polymer dielectric elastomer dielectric strength electric breakdown hemispherical electrode curvature force 

摘      要：Dielectric elastomers are widely investigated as soft electromechanically active polymers(EAPs)for actuators,stretch/force sensors,and mechanical energy harvesters to generate *** the performance of such devices is limited by the dielectric strength of the constitutive material,the electrical breakdown of soft elastomers for electromechanical transduction is still scarcely ***,we describe a custom-made setup to measure electrical breakdown of soft EAPs,and we present data for a widely studied acrylic elastomer(VHB 4905 from 3M).The elastomer was electrically stimulated via a planar and a hemispherical metal *** breakdown was characterized under different conditions to investigate the effects of the radius of curvature and applied force of the hemispherical *** a given radius of curvature,the breakdown field increased by about 50% for a nearly 10-fold increase of the applied mechanical stress,while with a given mechanical stress the breakdown field increased by about 20% for an approximately two fold increase of the radius of *** results indicate that the breakdown field is highly dependent on the boundary conditions,suggesting the need for reporting breakdown data always in close association with the measurement *** findings might help future investigations in elucidating the ultimate breakdown mechanism/s of soft elastomers.