Electroactive fluoropolymers and polyamides

Abstract Fluoropolymers and polyamides are attractive in electromechanical applications, such as sensors, actuators, and transducers, because of many advantages including lightweight, high flexibility and easy processing. Although, the electromechanical properties in those polymers are still lower than ceramics, the improvement of their performance is still challenging. The mechanisms for piezoelectric, electrostrictive, and Maxwell electroactuations are totally different. For further development of electromechanical properties, the understanding of the origin for each effect is important. In this chapter, the fundamental studies of electromechanical properties are reviewed and the results of electroactive fluoropolymers and polyamides are discussed.