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  4. Electrode Impact on the Electrical Breakdown of Dielectric Elastomer Thin Films
 
research article

Electrode Impact on the Electrical Breakdown of Dielectric Elastomer Thin Films

Fasolt, Bettina
•
Albuquerque, Fabio Beco
•
Hubertus, Jonas
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October 1, 2023
Polymers

Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) enable the realization of energy-efficient and compact actuator systems. DEAs operate at the kilovolt range with typically microampere-level currents and hence minimize thermal losses in comparison to low voltage/high current actuators such as shape memory alloys or solenoids. The main limiting factor for reaching high energy density in high voltage applications is dielectric breakdown. In previous investigations on silicone-based thin films, we reported that not only do environmental conditions and film parameters such as pre-stretch play an important role but that electrode composition also has a significant impact on the breakdown behavior. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of electrical breakdown on thin silicone films coated with electrodes manufactured by five different methods: screen printing, inkjet printing, pad printing, gold sputtering, and nickel sputtering. For each method, breakdown was studied under environmental conditions ranging from 1 degrees C to 80 degrees C and 10% to 90% relative humidity. The effect of different manufacturing methods was analyzed as was the influence of parameters such as solvents, silicone content, and the particle processing method. The breakdown field increases with increasing temperature and decreases with increasing humidity for all electrode types. The stiffer metal electrodes have a higher breakdown field than the carbon-based electrodes, for which particle size also plays a large role.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.3390/polym15204071
Web of Science ID

WOS:001089418300001

Author(s)
Fasolt, Bettina
Albuquerque, Fabio Beco
Hubertus, Jonas
Schultes, Guenter
Shea, Herbert  
Seelecke, Stefan
Date Issued

2023-10-01

Publisher

MDPI

Published in
Polymers
Volume

15

Issue

20

Article Number

4071

Subjects

Physical Sciences

•

Dielectric Breakdown Test

•

Electrode Manufacturing Methods

•

Influence Electrodes

•

Silicone Films

•

Carbon Black

•

Environmental Conditions

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LMTS  
FunderGrant Number

We gratefully acknowledge the support from WACKER Chemie AG, who supplied the Elastosil 2030 film and other chemicals necessary for the tests.

WACKER Chemie AG

Available on Infoscience
February 16, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/203942
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