Effects of soft and hard fillers on electromechanical properties and performance of polydimethylsiloxane elastomer for actuator applications.

Desired ratio of relative permittivity and elastic modulus limits the application of silicone rubbers as flexible electromechanical actuators. The relative permittivity can be improved by incorporating varieties of high‐k (high dielectric constant) particles and polymer reagents as plasticizers and crosslinkers into elastomer matrix. The present work investigates the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) flakes, as a soft filler, and titanium diborides (TB) particles, as a hard filler, on electromechanical actuation performance of polydimethylsiloxane elastomer for soft actuator. Elastomer composites with various concentrations of fillers are prepared to compare the influences on optical, dielectric, and mechanical properties. Uniform dispersion of fillers is confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x‐ray spectrometer, and Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy analysis. Results show that the elastic modulus and relative permittivity are significantly influenced by filler contents. The elastic modulus increases with lower concentrations of PEG fillers, and at 8 wt%, it becomes comparable to the base material. Soft fillers aid in maintaining low elastic modulus, whereas hard fillers increase electrical breakdown strength as well as dielectric loss with almost equal changes in relative permittivity for both composites. The maximum actuation strain of 30.8% and 26.2% is attained for an in‐house fabricated linear actuator with 8 wt% of PEG and TB particles, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]