A dielectric elastomer from NC State University, Raleigh, is enhanced with electroactive "bottlebrush" polymers that allow it to deform under relatively low electric fields and hold its final shape ...

A multi-institutional research team has developed a new electroactive polymer material that can change shape and size when exposed to a relatively small electric field. The advance overcomes two ...

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) can undergo large, reversible in-plane deformation. In a new report now published in Science Advances, Junhong Pu and a team of scientists in soft materials ...

Strain-induced crystallization can strengthen, toughen, and facilitate an elastocaloric effect in elastomers. The resulting crystallinity can be induced by mechanical stretching in common elastomers ...

Researchers have discovered a new resonance phenomenon in a dielectric elastomer rotary joint that can make the artificial joint bend up and down, like a flapping wing. Dielectric elastomers are novel ...

July 7 (UPI) --In the mode of the Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man, researchers have developed a new material -- and manufacturing process -- for artificial muscles that they describe as ...

image: Imagine flexible surgical instruments that can twist and turn in all directions like miniature octopus arms, or how about large and powerful robot tentacles that can work closely and safely ...

To increase the electric energy density of dielectric elastomers, high dielectric constant nanocomposites were developed by chemically bonding oligomers of copper phthalocyanine oligomers (CuPc), a ...

The development of instabilities in soft heterogeneous dielectric elastomers is investigated. Motivated by experiments and possible applications, we use in our analysis the physically relevant ...

(Nanowerk News) A multi-institutional research team has developed a new electroactive polymer material that can change shape and size when exposed to a relatively small electric field. The advance ...