EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE IN SOFT DIELECTRIC ELASTOMER ACTUATORS

Dielectric elastomers, regarded as the member of electroactive polymers, possess the ability of undergoing large deformations when an electric field is applied, making them very appealing for the design of artificial muscles that can be used by robots and human beings. Understanding their behaviors subjected to various electric fields still remains a very important field of study. Thus, this study deals with the investigation of temperature variations on the surface of soft dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) generated by the applied various waveforms of electrical signals with different frequencies including square, sine and triangular. It was observed that the highest temperature on the surface of DEA is generated by the square waveform. Furthermore, the surface temperatures reach their maximum values with the frequencies ranging between 2 Hz and 10 Hz, regardless of the type of waveform. Moreover, an increase in the ambient temperature, pre-stretching and voltages leads to an increase the temperature on the surface of DEA.