Improved Electrical Behavior of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEA) have been introduced two decades ago as a new soft actuator family. In the biomedical field, this technology is very interesting because the devices are similar to human muscles. The main interest of such technology is primarily the large strain. Fast response and low weight are additional positive features. The former is mainly linked to the electrical properties of the electrode. We have thus investigated the use of conductive silicone, conductive tape or conductive ink combined to carbon-based silicone electrode for better electrode performance, i.e. reduced resistance. Conductive silver ink seems the best option regarding the resistivity and the stretchability.