Subject to a voltage, a dielectric elastomer can deform substantially, making it a desirable material for actuators. Designing such an actuator, however, has been challenging due to nonlinear equations of state, as well as multiple modes of failure, parameters of design, and measures of performance. This paper explores these issues, using a spring-roll actuator as an example. We formulate the e...

Envisioning robotic devices with functionality resulting from processing rather than exclusively material composition, multimodal responsive produced a single azobenzene-functionalized cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer ink are demonstrated. The device displays simultaneous structural color and actuation in response to both ultraviolet blue light exposures. Through direct writing, microextrus...

3D objects with integrated electronics are produced using an additive manufacturing approach relying on multiphoton fabrication (direct laser writing, (DLW)). Conducting polymer-based structures (with micrometer-millimeter scale features) printed within exemplar matrices, including elastomer (polydimethylsiloxane, (PDMS)) have been widely investigated for biomedical applications. The fidelity o...

(x 1 , . . . , x n ) ∈ Rn and t > 0, k 1 > 0 and k 2 > 0 are constants. The nonlinear termf(u) = O(u1+θ) and θ is a positive integer. Equation (1) is a model in variational form for the neoHookean elastomer rod and describes the motion of a neoHookean elastomer rod with internal damping; for more detailed physical background, we refer to [1]. In [1], the authors have studied a general class of ...

The size, shape and distribution of different phases in thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) blends and composites are critical to the properties of the materials, but can be difficult to characterise. Here we report the combination of heavy metal staining and focused ion beam - scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) to reveal the three-dimensional (3D) structure of an elastomer-modified poly(propyle...

nanocomposites based on polyamide 6 (pa6) and poly(ethylene-co-1-butene)-graft-maleic anhydride (eb-g-mah) blends have been prepared via melt mixing. the effect of blend ratio and organoclay concentration onthe crystallization and melting behavior of specimens were studied. three types of commercial organo-modifiedclay (cloisite 30b, cloisite 15a and cloisite 20a) were employed to assess the im...

Dynamic change of the surface area and topology of elastomers is used as a general, environmentally friendly approach for effectively detaching micro- and macro-fouling organisms adhered on the elastomer surfaces. Deformation of elastomer surfaces under electrical or pneumatic actuation can debond various biofilms and barnacles. The bio-inspired dynamic surfaces can be fabricated over large are...

Abstract Additive Manufacturing provides the opportunity to produce tailored and complex structures economically. The use of lattice in combination with a thermoplastic elastomer enables generation configurable properties by varying cell parameters. Since there is only little knowledge about producibility made TPE laser sintering process resulting mechanical properties, different kinds are inve...

Dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) are attractive candidates for harvesting electrical energy from mechanical work since they comprise relatively few moving parts and large elastomer sheets can be mass produced. Successfully demonstrations of the DEG prototypes have been reported from a diverse of energy sources, including ocean waves, wind, flowing water and human movement. The energy dens...

It is previously known that under inflation alone a spherical rubber membrane balloon may bifurcate into a pear shape when the tension in the membrane reaches a maximum, but the existence of such a maximum depends on the material model used: the maximum exists for the Ogden model, but does not exist for the neoHookean, Mooney-Rivlin or Gent model. This paper discusses how such a situation is ch...