熱と電場の両方に応答するハイブリッド誘電エラストマーアクチュエータの提案

抄録

Dielectric elastomers are unipolar actuators that stretch regardless of the sign of the applied electric field. In this study, we propose a new actuator, Hybrid Dielectric Elastomer Actuator (HDEA), that contracts as well as stretches, focusing on the fact that rubber materials can be deformed by heat, or by entropic elasticity. To verify this idea, we fabricate a prototype of HDEA made of silicone elastomer and demonstrate that the HDEA can be driven by heat as well as by an electric field as a bipolar actuator. As a result, we confirmed that a force of 0.07 N in electrical extension and 0.03 N in thermal contraction was generated by an isometric test.