Electromechanical Strain Responses of SEBS/CB and SEBS/SWCNT Composites

Abstract

Electromechanical strain responses of poly (styrene-b-ethylbutylene-b-styrene) (SEBS) /carbon black (CB) composites and SEBS/single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composites were investigated. The electric field induced thickness strains s_z of the composites increased with the conductive filler content at the low filler concentration region and then showed the maximum. s_z represents relative thickness change relative to the initial thickness of the composite film. A further increase of the filler concentration caused a decrease in the actuation strain. The SEBS/SWCNT showed a larger s_z than SEBS/CB at the same filler content.

Keywords:

• Dielectric
• electromechanical strain
• SWCNT
• carbon
• space charge injection.

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by a grant from the Fundamental R&D Program for Core Technology of Materials funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Republic of Korea and partially by a grant from the Hybrid Materials Research Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).