An investigation on electromechanical stability of dielectric elastomers undergoing large deformation

Dielectric elastomers are one of the important electroactive polymers used as actuators in adaptive structures due to their outstanding ability to generate very large deformations when subjected to an external electric field. In this paper, the Mooney–Rivlin elastic strain energy function with two material constants is used to analyze the electromechanical stability performance of a dielectric elastomer. This elastic strain energy together with the electric energy incorporating linear permittivity are the main items to construct the free energy of the system. Particular numerical results are also calculated for a further understanding of the dielectric elastomer's typical stability performance. The proposed model offers great help in guiding the design and fabrication of actuators featuring dielectric elastomers.