Temporal evolution and instability in a viscoelastic dielectric elastomer
- Dielectric elastomer transducers are being developed for applications in stretchable electronics, tunable optics, biomedical devices, and soft machines. These transducers exhibit highly nonlinear electromechanical behavior: a dielectric membrane under voltage can form wrinkles, undergo snap-through instability, and suffer electrical breakdown. We investigate temporal evolution and instability by conducting a large set of experiments under various prestretches and loading rates, and by developing a model that allows viscoelastic instability. We use the model to classify types of instability, and map the experimental observations according to prestretches and loading rates. The model describes the entire set of experimental observations. A new type of instability is discovered, which we call wrinkle-to-wrinkle transition. A flat membrane at a critical voltage forms wrinkles and then, at a second critical voltage, snaps into another state of winkles of a shorter wavelength. This study demonstrates that viscoelasticity is essential to theDielectric elastomer transducers are being developed for applications in stretchable electronics, tunable optics, biomedical devices, and soft machines. These transducers exhibit highly nonlinear electromechanical behavior: a dielectric membrane under voltage can form wrinkles, undergo snap-through instability, and suffer electrical breakdown. We investigate temporal evolution and instability by conducting a large set of experiments under various prestretches and loading rates, and by developing a model that allows viscoelastic instability. We use the model to classify types of instability, and map the experimental observations according to prestretches and loading rates. The model describes the entire set of experimental observations. A new type of instability is discovered, which we call wrinkle-to-wrinkle transition. A flat membrane at a critical voltage forms wrinkles and then, at a second critical voltage, snaps into another state of winkles of a shorter wavelength. This study demonstrates that viscoelasticity is essential to the understanding of temporal evolution and instability of dielectric elastomers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.…
Author details: | Matthias Kollosche, Guggi Kofod, Zhigang Suo, Jian Zhu |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2014.11.013 |
ISSN: | 0022-5096 |
ISSN: | 1873-4782 |
Title of parent work (English): | Journal of the mechanics and physics of solids |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Place of publishing: | Oxford |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2015 |
Publication year: | 2015 |
Release date: | 2017/03/27 |
Tag: | Dielectric elastomer; Phase transition; Snap-through instability; Viscoelasticity; Wrinkling |
Volume: | 76 |
Number of pages: | 18 |
First page: | 47 |
Last Page: | 64 |
Funding institution: | German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) [03X5511]; NSF MRSEC [DMR-0820484]; MOE startup [R-265-000-444-133]; MOE Tier 1 [R-265-000-497-112] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
Peer review: | Referiert |