High performance of all-polymer electrostrictive systems

All-polymer electrostrictive systems are developed. Two typical electro-active polymers, poly(vinyldiene-trifluoroethylene) P(VDF-TrFE) of high elastic modulus and polyurethane of low elastic modulus, are studied. The conducting polymers used as electrodes in the system are polypyrrole and polyaniline respectively. The compatible interface between the electrode polymer and electrostrictive polymer produces acoustic transparency of the all-polymer films. The dielectric and electromechanical properties of the system are characterized and compared with that of the electroactive polymer with gold electrodes. It is found that the dielectric loss of the system is a litter bit higher than that of the sample with gold electrodes at high frequency since the conductivity of the conductive polymer is lower than that of the gold. The electric field induced longitudinal strain response of the all-polymer system is the same as that of the electroactive polymer with gold electrodes. However, the electric field induced transverse strain response of the all-polymer system is higher than that of the electroactive polymer with gold electrodes.