Transparent and Soft Vibrotactile Actuator Based on Silicone Rubber

In this paper, we propose a transparent and soft vibrotactile actuator based on silicone rubber. Silicone rubber, which is the nonionic dielectric elastomer, was sandwiched between ionic polyacrylamide hydrogels. Silicone rubber is repetitively compressed and expanded by the electric field generated by lithiated hydrogels, which generates the vibration. We systematically explore the vibration acceleration of silicone interface between ionic hydrogels based on the frequency and voltage of input signal. This proposed vibrotactile actuator significantly generates the vibration in the frequency range 1 Hz to 500 Hz. Furthermore, the peak resonant (1.016 g) frequency is observed at 290 Hz. The detailed investigation suggests that the developed actuator can be controlled by the input voltage in the range of 0.1 kV to 2.5 kV. The proposed vibrotactile actuator can satisfactorily be utilized in deformable or transparent devices such as smart windows, wearable devices, and transparent display equipment.