Abstract: A comprehensive analysis of the basic concept and classification of electro-active polymer (EAP) is provided, and ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMC) and dielectric elastomer(DE) as a typical representative of the ionic and electronic EAP materials respectively are demonstrated about their current research status. Subsequently, the main achievement of author’s group on the manufacturing process and fundamental research of IPMC and DE is introduced. For IPMC, the influences of the preparation steps on the electrode deposition, the manufacturing process optimization, physical modeling of IPMC, Nafion casting and IPMC packaging process are investigated, and also experimental and theoretical research on the actuation of IPMC are discussed; for DE, its electromechanical coupling characteristics and the effect of pre-stretch, temperature and viscoelastic on its stability is studied. The achievement on the application of EAP material in the context of micro-pumps, micro-lens and multi-degree-of-freedom manipulator is presented.

Key words: Composite materials, Electromechanical coupling, Intelligent materials