SBIR Phase I: Next Generation Plastic Actuators and Transducers

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop an optimized manufacturing process for new robust, high efficiency, polymer piezo actuators and transducers based on polyvinylidene di-fluoride (PVDF) - carbon nanotube nanocomposites. These new actuators and transducers have recently been demonstrated in the laboratory and have shown a remarkable 300-500 % performance improvement over current technology. It appears they can be made with the same or lower cost using existing extrusion manufacturing techniques. In the proposed project scale-up strategies for low cost manufacture and commercialization will be examined particularly in terms of how they impact the performance of the actuator or transducer. Comparisons will be made to commercially relevant standards to identify the optimal process. Commercially, these materials are used in a variety of applications, such as switches, computer graphics, infrared detectors, ultrasonic medical imaging, musical instrument pickup, hydrophones, and transducers for military and civilian sonar applications. The transducer composite and polymer film market equaled $222 million in 2000, and is expected to grow to $340 million by 2005.