Silicone elastomer map: design the ideal elastomer

Vaičekauskaitė, Justina; Mazurek, Piotr; Vudayagiri, Sindhu; Skov, Anne Ladegaard

doi:10.1117/12.2515305

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Comparison of the obtained breakdown strength values with manufacturer's data is complicated because the manufacturer's values typically measured for AC voltage result in considerably smaller breakdown strength values. Nevertheless, the measured breakdown strength of 10:1 Sylgard 182 is close to similar materials across the literature (Vaicekauskaite et al, 2019;Sikulskyi et al, 2021).…”

Section: Elastomer Electromechanical Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…The first noticeable fact is the substantially more compliant behavior of PDMS Sylgard 182 mixed in higher ratios with Young's modulus lowered by more than an order of magnitude between the lowest and highest mix ratios. Furthermore, the modulus values of silicones mixed in the standard 10:1 ratio are lower than stated by the manufacturer or in relevant studies (Vaicekauskaite et al, 2019). Particularly, silicones that has longer curing time at 100℃ as per manufacturer's data were affected more by the selected curing cycle and demonstrated lower modulus values.…”

Section: Elastomer Electromechanical Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Sylgard 186 and Sylgard 182, were also studied due to its additional softness (186) and its long curing time (182), relatively underutilized characteristic allowing more prolonged 3D printing session without replacing the material. As a method to improve DEA electromechanical actuation, different mixing ratios of elastomer base (Part A) and platinum-based curing agent (Part B) were investigated for Sylgard 182 (Figure 1C) (Chen et al, 2019;Vaicekauskaite et al, 2019). Various optimized UDEA designs were 3D printed and tested to validate the derived model, FOM, and materials' printability (Figure 1D).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Additively manufactured unimorph dielectric elastomer actuators: Design, materials, and fabrication

et al. 2022

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Dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) is a smart material that holds promise for soft robotics due to the material’s intrinsic softness, high energy density, fast response, and reversible electromechanical characteristics. Like for most soft robotics materials, additive manufacturing (AM) can significantly benefit DEAs and is mainly applied to the unimorph DEA (UDEA) configuration. While major aspects of UDEA modeling are known, 3D printed UDEAs are subject to specific material and geometrical limitations due to the AM process and require a more thorough analysis of their design and performance. Furthermore, a figure of merit (FOM) is an analytical tool that is frequently used for planar DEA design optimization and material selection but is not yet derived for UDEA. Thus, the objective of the paper is modeling of 3D printed UDEAs, analyzing the effects of their design features on the actuation performance, and deriving FOMs for UDEAs. As a result, the derived analytical model demonstrates dependence of actuation performance on various design parameters typical for 3D printed DEAs, provides a new optimum thickness to Young’s modulus ratio of UDEA layers when designing a 3D printed DEA with fixed dielectric elastomer layer thickness, and serves as a base for UDEAs’ FOMs. The FOMs have various degrees of complexity depending on considered UDEA design features. The model was numerically verified and experimentally validated through the actuation of a 3D printed UDEA. The fabricated and tested UDEA design was optimized geometrically by controlling the thickness of each layer and from the material perspective by mixing commercially available silicones in non-standard ratios for the passive and dielectric layers. Finally, the prepared non-standard mix ratios of the silicones were characterized for their viscosity dynamics during curing at various conditions to investigate the silicones’ manufacturability through AM.

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Section: Elastomer Electromechanical Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Elastomer Electromechanical Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Additively manufactured unimorph dielectric elastomer actuators: Design, materials, and fabrication

et al. 2022

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“…Initially, particles were mixed and dispersed in the rubber base of Sylgard 184 (Part A) using a planetary mixer Thinky ARM-310 (Laguna Hills, CA, USA) for 10 min at 2000 rpm. Then, Sylgard's curing agent (Part B) was added in a 15:1 (A:B) ratio to Part A to improve the FOM of the plain silicone [7], but mainly to extend silicone handling time before curing. The latter made it possible to evenly disperse particles and fabricate high-quality thin composite films by blade casting method according to a well-developed technique [38].…”

Section: Composites Mixtures and Film Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Ferroelectric Fillers on Composite Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

et al. 2021

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Integrating nano- to micro-sized dielectric fillers to elastomer matrices to form dielectric composites is one of the commonly utilized methods to improve the performance of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). Barium titanate (BaTiO3) is among the widely used ferroelectric fillers for this purpose; however, calcium copper titanate CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) has the potential to outperform such conventional fillers. Despite their promising performance, CCTO-based dielectric composites for DEA application are studied to a relatively lower degree. Particularly, the composites are characterized for a comparably small particle loading range, while critical DEA properties such as breakdown strength and nonlinear elasticity are barely addressed in the literature. Thus, in this study, CCTO was paired with polydimethylsiloxane (CH3)3SiO[Si(CH3)2O]nSi(CH3)3 (PDMS), Sylgard 184, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the effects of particle loading and size on the dielectric composite properties important for DEA applications. The dielectric composites’ performance was described through the figures of merit (FOMs) that consider materials’ Young’s modulus, dielectric permittivity, and breakdown strength. The optimum amounts of the ferroelectric filler were determined through the FOMs to maximize composite DEA performance. Lastly, electromechanical testing of the pre-stretched CCTO-composite DEA validated the improved performance over the plain elastomer DEA, with deviations from prediction attributed to the studied composites’ nonlinearity.

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“…The obtained Young's modulus value is considerably lower than the 15.3 MPa reported on the manufacturer's website, despite using the recommended printing parameters for 2PP fabrication of the tested sample and determining both Young's moduli through nanoindentation [9]. Meanwhile, both values are larger than for the majority of common PDMS compositions in the literature [26][27][28]. Like all elastomers, PDMS is composed of slightly cross-linked polymer chains, and its mechanical properties are sensitive to the degree of polymerization.…”

Section: Mechanical Properties Of Cured Ip-pdms Through Nanoindentationmentioning

confidence: 86%

Characterization of Photocurable IP-PDMS for Soft Micro Systems Fabricated by Two-Photon Polymerization 3D Printing

Srinivasaraghavan Govindarajan,

Sikulskyi,

Ren

et al. 2023

Polymers

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Recent developments in micro-scale additive manufacturing (AM) have opened new possibilities in state-of-the-art areas, including microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) with intrinsically soft and compliant components. While fabrication with soft materials further complicates micro-scale AM, a soft photocurable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) resin, IP-PDMS, has recently entered the market of two-photon polymerization (2PP) AM. To facilitate the development of microdevices with soft components through the application of 2PP technique and IP-PDMS material, this research paper presents a comprehensive material characterization of IP-PDMS. The significance of this study lies in the scarcity of existing research on this material and the thorough investigation of its properties, many of which are reported here for the first time. Particularly, for uncured IP-PDMS resin, this work evaluates a surface tension of 26.7 ± 4.2 mN/m, a contact angle with glass of 11.5 ± 0.6°, spin-coating behavior, a transmittance of more than 90% above 440 nm wavelength, and FTIR with all the properties reported for the first time. For cured IP-PDMS, novel characterizations include a small mechanical creep, a velocity-dependent friction coefficient with glass, a typical dielectric permittivity value of 2.63 ± 0.02, a high dielectric/breakdown strength for 3D-printed elastomers of up to 73.3 ± 13.3 V/µm and typical values for a spin coated elastomer of 85.7 ± 12.4 V/µm, while the measured contact angle with water of 103.7 ± 0.5°, Young’s modulus of 5.96 ± 0.2 MPa, and viscoelastic DMA mechanical characterization are compared with the previously reported values. Friction, permittivity, contact angle with water, and some of the breakdown strength measurements were performed with spin-coated cured IP-PDMS samples. Based on the performed characterization, IP-PDMS shows itself to be a promising material for micro-scale soft MEMS, including microfluidics, storage devices, and micro-scale smart material technologies.

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Silicone elastomer map: design the ideal elastomer

Cited by 7 publications

References 51 publications

Additively manufactured unimorph dielectric elastomer actuators: Design, materials, and fabrication

Additively manufactured unimorph dielectric elastomer actuators: Design, materials, and fabrication

Effects of Ferroelectric Fillers on Composite Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

Characterization of Photocurable IP-PDMS for Soft Micro Systems Fabricated by Two-Photon Polymerization 3D Printing

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