We present the development and applications of dielectric elastomers. For the last 10 years the significance of this class of polymers has risen as more applications seem possible and first products have been commercialized.

Dielectric elastomer transducers consist of thin electrically insulating elastomeric membranes coated on both sides with compliant electrodes. They are a promising electromechanically active polymer technology that may be used for actuators, strain sensors, and electrical generators that harvest mechanical energy. The rapid development of this field calls for the first standards, collecting guidelines on how to assess and compare the performance of materials and devices. This paper addresses this need, presenting standardized methods for material characterisation, device testing and performance measurement. These proposed standards are intended to have a general scope and a broad applicability to different material types and device configurations. Nevertheless, they also intentionally exclude some aspects where knowledge and/or consensus in the literature were deemed to be insufficient. This is a sign of a young and vital field, whose research development is expected to benefit from this effort towards standardisation.

Wir präsentieren einen kurzen Rückblick über die Entwicklung und Anwendung dielektrischer Elastomere. In den vergangenen zehn Jahren hat die Bedeutung dieser Polymerklasse stetig zugenommen. Inzwischen setzen sich erste Produkte auf dem Markt durch, und weitere Anwendungen stehen vor der Markteinführung.

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