From dielectric elastomers to cellular ferroelectrets: soft matter as electroactive transducer materials

Description

Elastomers and cellular polymers are usually employed on a large scale in packaging applications. They are therefore inexpensive materials that can be processed in large areas. By design, such materials are also attractive as electric fi eld activated polymers (EAPs). In elastomers Maxwell stresses are employed to generate large area expansion rates, while internally charged cellular polymers display a large longitudinal piezoelectric, with piezoelectric d-coeffi cients comparable to piezoelectric ceramics. Elastomers and cellular polymers are therefore interesting for applications in actuators and sensors. In the presentation a short tour d’horizon through selected applications is given, starting with minimum energy actuators made of dielectric elastomers, followed by transducer applications of cellular polymers, such as microphones, fl exible switches and touchpads. Special emphasis is given on the integration of such smart EAP’s with fl exible macroelectronic components based on amorphous silicon or organic semiconductor transistor devices, used for signal amplifi cation and conditioning. Thereby new application areas are opened for EAP’s in fl exible sensing for advanced man-machine interfaces, smart skin and textiles, as well as invisible electronics. Work partially supported by the Austrian Science Funds.

Period	12 Mar 2008
Event title	Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2008, San Diego, California, USA
Event type	Conference
Location	United StatesShow on map