Fiber-reinforced dielectric elastomers with a tailored fiber placement-manufactured continuous reinforcement layer

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) present a group of actuators with exceptionally high actuation speeds and a number of possible configurations for various applications. Reinforcing DEAs with either discrete or continuous reinforcement layers leads to a drastically modified DEA actuation behavior. In strip DEAs, reinforcements can block almost all strain in one direction, thus, providing a higher actuation strain and force output in the targeted actuation direction. Additionally, more complex actuation strain patterns are possible with discrete reinforcements, such as contractile movements or modified out-of-plane displacements. Continuously reinforced actuators with fiber-based reinforcements offer several advantages over discretely reinforced actuators. However, more complex reinforcement patterns have not yet been realized, as the current approaches only use unidirectional fiber layers. Tailored fiber placement (TFP), an established method in lightweight engineering, provides a solution for precise fiber positioning on a base layer. In this publication, we propose a novel approach to manufacture precise and complex fiber reinforcement layers for DEAs using TFP technology, and present initial experimental results on their mechanical properties compared to unidirectional carbon fiber fabric.