Synthesis and Properties of Polyurethane-based Actuator with Poly(dimethyl siloxane)

This paper investigated the use of electrostrictive polymers with compliant electrodes as a means of actuator. In many electrostrictive materials, especially polyurethane (PU) can produce large deformation and force because of its low elastic modulus. The electromechanical response is mainly due to Maxwell stress effect and electrostriction effect. When a thin film of dielectric elastomer is applied to an electric field, it will experience Maxwell stress caused by interactions of free charge between the electrodes and electrostriction caused by the reorientation of polar phase in the material. In this work, PU was composed of the soft segment with poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) and the hard segment with 4, 4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate. Also the hard segment content of synthesized PU was controlled at 20, 25, 30, and 35wt%. To conclude, mechanical properties increased with the increase in hard segment contents. However actuation test showed that the deformation was decreased as hard segment contents increased.