In our fast-changing world, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) are of ever-increasing importance. Among the most ubiquitous examples are touchscreens that most people are familiar with from their smartphones. The quality of such an HMI can be improved by adding haptic feedback—an imitation of using mechanical buttons—to the touchscreen. Thin-film actuators on the basis of electro-mechanically active polymers (EAPs), with the electroactive material sandwiched between two compliant electrodes, offer a promising technology for haptic surfaces. In thin-film technology, the thickness and the number of stacked layers of the electroactive dielectric are key parameters for tuning a system. Therefore, we have experimentally investigated the influence of the thickness of a single EAP layer on the electrical and the electro-mechanical performance of the transducer. In order to achieve high electro-mechanical actuator outputs, we have employed relaxor-ferroelectric ter-fluoropolymers that can be screen-printed. By means of a model-based approach, we have also directly compared single- and multi-layer actuators, thus providing guidelines for optimized transducer configurations with respect to the system requirements of haptic applications for which the operation frequency is of particular importance.

在我们瞬息万变的世界中，人机界面 (HMI) 的重要性日益增加。最常见的例子是大多数人在智能手机上熟悉的触摸屏。可以通过向触摸屏添加触觉反馈（模仿使用机械按钮）来提高此类 HMI 的质量。基于机电活性聚合物 (EAP) 的薄膜致动器，电活性材料夹在两个柔顺电极之间，为触觉表面提供了一种很有前途的技术。在薄膜技术中，电活性电介质的厚度和堆叠层数是调整系统的关键参数。所以，我们已经通过实验研究了单个 EAP 层的厚度对换能器的电气和机电性能的影响。为了实现高机电致动器输出，我们采用了可以丝网印刷的弛豫铁电三氟聚合物。通过基于模型的方法，我们还直接比较了单层和多层执行器，从而针对操作频率特别重要的触觉应用的系统要求提供优化传感器配置的指南。