Characterization of Enhanced Silicone Materials for Dielectric Elastomer Transducers

Due to their molecular structure and very low glass transition temperature, silicone materials offer excellent properties for dielectric elastomer (DE) transducers, like constant and almost lost free electromechanical behaviour over the huge temperature range typically specified for technical applications. For an enhanced work output, Wacker developed a new silicone film called ELASTOSIL(r) Film 5020 with doubled permittivity. Here, we present the characterisation of the new material including the hyperelasticity as well as the electromechanically coupled behaviour and compare it to standard silicone material. The active behaviour is investigated based on single layer planar DE transducers. As expected by model-based considerations the doubled permittivity and halved Young's modulus yields an elongation approximately four times larger compared to standard silicone.