Polysiloxane Inks for Multimaterial 3d Printing of High-Permittivity Dielectric Elastomers
| Author(s) | Danner, Patrick M. | |
| Author(s) | Pleij, Tazio | |
| Author(s) | Siqueira, Gilberto | |
| Author(s) | Bayles, Alexandra V. | |
| Author(s) | Venkatesan, Thulasinath Raman | |
| Author(s) | Vermant, Jan | |
| Author(s) | Opris, Dorina M. | |
| Date Accessioned | 2024-02-23T15:22:49Z | |
| Date Available | 2024-02-23T15:22:49Z | |
| Publication Date | 2023-12-27 | |
| Description | This article was originally published in Advanced Functional Materials. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202313167. © 2023 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH | |
| Abstract | Dielectric elastomer transducers (DET) are promising candidates for electrically-driven soft robotics. However, the high viscosity and low yield stress of DET formulations prohibit 3D printing, the most common manufacturing method for designer soft actuators. DET inks optimized for direct ink writing (DIW) produce elastomers with high stiffness and mechanical losses, diminishing the utility of DET actuators. To address the antagonistic nature of processing and performance constraints, principles of capillary suspensions are used to engineer DIW DET inks. By blending two immiscible polysiloxane liquids with a filler, a capillary ink suspension is obtained, in which the ink rheology can be tuned independently of the elastomer electromechanical properties. Rheometry is performed to measure and optimize processibility as a function of filler and secondary liquid fraction. Including polar polysiloxanes as the secondary liquid produces a printed elastomer exhibiting a four-fold permittivity increase over commercial polydimethylsiloxane. The characterization and multimaterial printing into layered DET devices demonstrates that the immiscible capillary suspension improves the processability of the inks and enhances the properties of the elastomers, enabling actuation of the devices at comparatively low voltages. It is anticipated that this formulation approach will allow soft robotics to harness the full potential of DETs. | |
| Sponsor | The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), the project MANUFHAPTICS of the Strategic Focus Area (SFA) Advanced Manufacturing of the ETH Board, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 101001182). The authors also acknowledge Dr. G. Kovacs (Empa) for providing access to the electromechanical test equipment, Dr. M. Barbezat (Empa) for providing access to the rheometer, Ms. T. Künniger for her support with the DMA measurements, L. Düring (CT Systems) for his continuous support with technical issues, D. Rentsch (Empa) for his support with the NMR measurements, and H. Shea (EPFL) for stimulating discussions. | |
| Citation | P. M. Danner, T. Pleij, G. Siqueira, A. V. Bayles, T. R. Venkatesan, J. Vermant, D. M. Opris, Polysiloxane Inks for Multimaterial 3d Printing of High-Permittivity Dielectric Elastomers. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023, 2313167. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202313167 | |
| ISSN | 1616-3028 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/34016 | |
| Language | en_US | |
| Publisher | Advanced Functional Materials | |
| dc.rights | Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ | |
| Keywords | 3D printing | |
| Keywords | capillary suspensions | |
| Keywords | dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) | |
| Keywords | high-permittivity elastomers | |
| Keywords | multimaterial printing | |
| Title | Polysiloxane Inks for Multimaterial 3d Printing of High-Permittivity Dielectric Elastomers | |
| Type | Article |
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