Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Slot-Die Coating of an On-the-Shelf Polymer with Increased Dielectric Permittivity for Stack Actuators
 
research article

Slot-Die Coating of an On-the-Shelf Polymer with Increased Dielectric Permittivity for Stack Actuators

Iacob, Mihail
•
Verma, Anand
•
Buchner, Thomas
Show more
January 14, 2022
Acs Applied Polymer Materials

Nitrile-butadiene rubbers (NBR) have been extensively used as dielectric materials due to their commercial availability, excellent mechanical properties, glass transition temperature below 0 degrees C, and increased dielectric permittivity owing to the presence of polar nitrile groups. Despite these advantages, their processability is poor and cross-linking into thin films is a challenge. Cross-linking requires long times, temperatures exceeding 160 degrees C, and an inert atmosphere. Such cross-linking conditions are incompatible with the continuous manufacturing process of stack actuators. Here, we developed an NBR that can be easily processed into thin films, cross-linked fast, and on-demand by UV-induced thiol-ene reaction in the presence of a dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone initiator and 2,2'-(ethylenedioxy)diethanethiol cross-linker. The mechanical properties of the NBR can be easily tuned by the amount of cross-linker used. Additionally, a semi-automated manufacturing process for stack actuators is presented. Here, we slot-die coat the dielectric and spray-coat the electrode through a mask. Because of the commercial availability of the starting materials, an easy and robust protocol for cross-linking, and reproducible manufacturing, it can be envisioned that this material has the potential to replace the well-known acrylate film, VHB, which engineers often use to construct dielectric elastomer actuators in different prototype devices.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acsapm.1c01135
Web of Science ID

WOS:000772027500017

Author(s)
Iacob, Mihail
Verma, Anand
Buchner, Thomas
Sheima, Yauhen  
Katzschmann, Robert
Opris, Dorina M.
Date Issued

2022-01-14

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Published in
Acs Applied Polymer Materials
Volume

4

Issue

1

Start page

150

End page

157

Subjects

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary

•

Polymer Science

•

Materials Science

•

dielectric elastomer actuators

•

high dielectric permittivity elastomer

•

stack actuators

•

thiol-ene cross-linking

•

nitrile-butadiene rubber

•

elastomer

•

composites

•

strain

•

performance

•

fabrication

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LMOM  
Available on Infoscience
April 11, 2022
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/187003
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés