On the origins of the electro-mechanical response of dielectric elastomers

Recent theoretical works have shown that the electro-mechanical performance of dielectric elastomers can be enhanced through micro-structural design.

The three attached papers introduce a rigorous entropy-based multi-scale analysis of the coupled response in DEs, starting from the discrete dipolar monomer level through the polymer chain and up to the macroscopic level. The analysis reveals the dependence of key quantities on the DE performance.  Specifically, it is demonstrated that the number and the type of dipolar monomers composing the chain and the chain density govern the overall response.

It is also shown that if an applied electric field is not aligned with a principal stretch direction, the stress tensor that develops is not symmetric and the polarization is not aligned with the electric field.

The proposed model is found to be in excellent quantitative agreement with several experimental findings.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022509617306634

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.208303

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022509615303525