By utilizing strain gage technology it is possible to directly and continuously measure the electrochemically induced strain response of EAP actuators. Strain sensitive actuators were constructed by directly vapor depositing gold (EvAu) on polyimide strain gages which are capable of measuring strain with an accuracy of +/- 1(mu) (epsilon) . Strain sensitive actuators were used to evaluate the strain response of polypyrrole (PPy), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxypyrrole) (PEDOP) and poly(3,6-bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thienyl)-N-carbazole) (PBEDOT-Cz). PPy was shown to produce significantly higher strain when compared to PEDOP and PBEDOT-Cz. The resulting overall strain for the materials was: 236, 33, and 35 (mu) (epsilon) respectively. From the initial investigation, adhesion of the EAP to the EvAu layer was identified as a major factor in the resulting lifetime and strain response of these actuators. Therefore an electrochemically deposited Au layer (EcAu) was deposited on top of the EvAu layer to improve the adhesion of the EAP to the working electrode. By changing the surface roughness from requals3.43 (EvAu) to requals8.26 and 18.00 (EcAu) the normalized strain response after 2000 cycles increases from 45% to 60% and 68% respectively. Also by changing the surface roughness from 5 to 23, the resulting strain response increases from ~100 (mu) (epsilon) to 600-800 (mu) (epsilon) for Ppy.
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