Permittivity Increase of TiO2/Silicone Elastomer Composite by External Electric Field Induced Filler Orientation

Abstract

Power generation output of dielectric elastomer generator depends on the relative permittivity of the elastomer sheet. High permittivity filler such as TiO2 filler increases the permittivity of the elastomer sheet. In this paper, we investigated the rodlike filler orientation of TiO2/silicone elastomer composite by the external electric field for further increasing the permittivity. The permittivity of TiO2/silicone elastomer composite was increased by the external AC electric field, while the tensile stress of TiO2/silicone elastomer composite did not changed by the field. The orientation of rodlike filler was investigated by analyzing SEM images of TiO2/silicone elastomer composite. The effect of the external electric field to the filler orientation of TiO2/silicone elastomer composite was discussed.