Claims
- 1. An electrical device including at least a layer of a relaxor ferroelectric polymer that has been processed to exhibit an electrostrictive strain, at room temperature, of 4% or more when an electric field gradient of about 100 megavolts per meter or greater is applied thereacross.
- 2. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said relaxor ferroelectric polymer comprises a polyvinylidine flouride polymer.
- 3. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said polymer is selected from the group consisting of: polyvinylidine flouride, polyvinylidine flouride-trifluoroethylene P(VDF-TrFE), polyvinylidine flouride tetrafluoroethylene P(VDF-TFE), polyvinylidine flouride trifluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene P(VDF-TFE-HFE) and polyvinylidine flouride-hexafluoropropylene P(VDF-HFE).
- 4. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said electrical device is a capacitor.
- 5. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said electrical device is an actuator.
- 6. The electrical device as recited in claim 1 wherein said layer of relaxor ferroelectric polymer exhibits a stretched configuration.
- 7. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said relaxor ferroelectric polymer is produced by the steps of:
a) producing a layer of a polyvinylidine flouride polymer; and b) irradiating said layer with an energy beam having an equivalent energy level of at least 500 KeV, said energy level sufficient to induce one or more of structural defects or crosslinking in said layer.
- 8. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said relaxor ferroelectric polymer exhibits a dielectric constant and a dielectric loss, at room temperature, of greater than 40 at 1 kHz and higher, and less than 5%, respectively.
- 9. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said relaxor ferroelectric polymer exhibits an elastic energy density, at room temperature, of greater than 0.3 Joules/cm3 or 160 Joules/kg.
- 10. The electrical device as recited in claim 1, wherein said relaxor ferroelectric polymer exhibits an electric energy density, at room temperature, which enables avoidance of breakdown at applied field levels thereacross of at least about 350 megavolts per meter.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This Application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/065,641, filed Nov. 18, 1997, and Provisional Application Serial No. 60/093,718, filed Jul. 22, 1998.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60065641 |
Nov 1997 |
US |
|
60093718 |
Jul 1998 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09195061 |
Nov 1998 |
US |
Child |
10099080 |
Mar 2002 |
US |