Novel DEA with organically modified silicone elastomer for permittivity enhancement

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) based on an organically modified silicone elastomer are introduced. The elastomer carries fluorinated sidegroups in the polysiloxane molecular chain and is synthesized from precursors which all are fluorinated. A fluorinated silicone oil is added in consecutive concentration steps as a softening agent. The electric properties of the modified silicone elastomers in terms of the permittivity, specific conductivity and electric breakdown field strength were investigated and compared with those of the unmodified silicone elastomer as the reference material. Moreover, the mechanical characteristics like Young's modulus in tensile and compressional load as well as the storage and loss modulus in shear load were studied. The permittivity of the modified silicone is enhanced by 80 % compared to the unmodified silicone elastomer. No strong alteration of the specific conductivity occurs. The electric breakdown field strength is comparable to t hat of the reference material. Simultaneously, the Young's modulus is decreased by the softening agent. Actuation measurements on model actuators show, that the actuation strain of the best materials surmounts that of the unmodified reference material by a factor of up to 5. The modified silicone elastomer materials can also be used for dielectric elastomer sensors and generators.