Electroactive polymers - First commercial applications

IDTechEx estimates the electroactive polymer market volume to be US$ 245 million in 2013. This shows, despite several decades of R&D and first applications, the electroactive polymers (EAP) field is still far from mature. Why is this? Challenges, such as performance, long-term stability and reliable mass production, still need further development to tailor the properties to the requirements of each target application. However, the potential is as high as US$ 2.25 billion by 2018, dominated by consumer electronics, actuators and sensors applications.