Blocked force measurement of an electro-active paper actuator using a cantilevered force transducer

The blocked force of an electro-active paper (EAPap) actuator was measured by a custom-built force transducer. The tip deflection of the force transducer was measured and converted into force using a simple Euler beam model. Since the blocked force is the maximum force generated at the tip of a bending actuator without displacement, the blocked force was found from the measured force of the transducer by extrapolating it. The force transducer was made from a thin steel cantilever beam and calibrated using a linear stage and a micro-balance. The measured maximum free bending displacement of the EAPap actuator was 4.4 mm and the blocked force was 224 µN under 350 V mm−1 AC electric field and 33 µN under DC electric field with the same field strength. When an AC electric field was applied to the actuator, the generated blocked force of the EAPap was about 700% larger than that caused by DC excitation. The proposed blocked force measurement is accurate down to a micro-Newton resolution under DC as well as AC electric fields.