A Modular and Standardized Pipeline for the Design and Fabrication of Dielectric Elastomer Actuator Multilayers

Abstract

The development and deployment of DEAs has been severely limited by the slow and laborious design and manufacturing pipeline used to produce them. I have developed several elements of a pipeline that accelerates design and fabrication by standardizing and modularizing them. This allows for the easy development of task-specific devices, enhances their performance, and makes them scalable enough to be deployed in commercial products. Splitting elastomer deposition and assembly into modular processes allowed me to accelerate throughput, scale actuator size and quantity, and incorporate a variety of elastomer dielectrics by decoupling the interactions between materials and successive steps. Similarly, by spatial patterning of NP inks, I was able to decouple the advantages and disadvantages of each ink, allowing for modular, independent tuning of each ink to suit a single purpose. This allowed for faster development and higher-performance devices. My work automating the pre-clearing possible made it possible for each newly-designed device to be cleared quickly and with minimal labor, and my quantification and quantification of the process delivers the reliability necessary for an industrial process and product.