Electrostrictive Polymers for Deformable Mirror Actuation

Next generation high performance electromechanical actuators will enable the fabrication of new military and commercial devices. Traditionally, the piezoelectric and electrostrictive effects of ferroelectric ceramics have been exploited to fabricates electromechanical actuators. These ceramic materials are technically very mature, are relatively dense, suffer form low field-induced strain, and they fatigue when subjected to large strains. Creare and the Pennsylvania State University propose to develop high strain, electrostrictive polymeric materials that overcome the limiting characteristics of ferroelectric ceramics. Polymeric materials are lightweight, can be easily fabricated into complicated shapes, and can withstand very large strains without mechanical fatigue. During Phase I, we will assess the feasibility of our innovation by fabricating and characterizing high strain, low hysteresis, electromechanical actuators for deformable mirrors made from modified piezoelectric polymers. Based on the results of the material characterization, we will perform the preliminary design of a deformable mirror based on these actuators. During Phase II, we will optimize the fabrication process for the electrostrictive polymers, fabricate a deformable mirror with electrostrictive polymer actuators, and demonstrate the performance gains that are achieved by using high strain polymeric materials for electromechanical actuation. High-strain polymeric materials will enable the fabrication of electromechanical actuators with complicated structures that can be used for military and commercial aapplications as varied as deformable mirrors for adaptive optics, ultrasound transducers for biomedical imaging arrays, structural vibration and noise control, and ink-jet print heads.