Dynamic characteristics of out-of-plane vibration of dielectric elastomer resonator

Abstract

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) stand out among various soft actuators for their exceptionally fast response and large actuation. A dielectric elastomer can emerge out-of-plane vibration under alternating voltage and change its resonance frequency by adjusting the direct voltage. In this paper, the emerging conditions of the out-of-plane vibration of dielectric elastomer resonator (DER) are obtained by changing the pre-stretch, electrode area and the amplitude of the voltage. Sweep frequency tests are conducted to obtain the resonance frequency of DER, and the modals of the vibration are also obtained by experimental measurements. The nonlinearity vibration phenomenon which appears along with the increase of the amplitude of voltage is analyzed. The resonance mechanism of DER has a high energy exchange efficiency, which has a potential application in soft robot.