ABSTRACT
EAP materials are still considered to be at their emerging stage that needs greater scienti„c and engineering advancements, and signi„cant efforts are being made to turn them as actuators of choice. Bringing these materials to the level of application of daily-used products necessitates „nding a niche that addresses critical needs. To maximize the actuation capability and operation durability, effective processing techniques are being developed for their fabrication, shaping, and electroding. Methods of reliably characterizing the response of EAP materials are being developed, and databases (Madden, 2010) are being established.
