Electroactive Polymers

An electroactive polymer EAP is a type of polymer that responds to an electric field by changing its size or form. Actuators and sensors are where this kind of material is used the most frequently. The fact that an EAP would experience significant deformation despite enduring significant pressures is one of its usual defining characteristics.

• Cartoon illustration of an EAP grasping tool.
• The EAP fingers bend when a voltage is applied, allowing the ball to be released.
• The EAP fingers revert to their former shape and grasp the ball when the voltage is turned off.

Ceramic piezoelectric materials make for the vast bulk of historical actuators. Although these materials may sustain strong stresses, they usually simply distort.