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Modeling of the muscle-like actuation in soft dielectrics: deformation mode and electromechanical stability

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Abstract

Soft dielectric elastomer is able to generate an electromechanical response in terms of reversible shape changing, which is a muscle-like behavior. The deformation and electromechanical stability of dielectric elastomers, classified by their deformation modes, uniaxial extension, equal biaxial expansion and pure shear, are investigated. Pull-in instability occurs in equal biaxial and uniaxial modes at a small stretch ratio, while the pure shear mode features wrinkling instability after a large stable deformation. The coupled stiffness of the voltage-activated material is established and studied for achieving the goal of high performance stretchable dielectric actuators.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NSF China (Grant Nos. 10972174, 10872157, and 11072185).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Bo Li, Hualing Chen & Jinxiong Zhou

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Bo Li & Hualing Chen

  3. School of Aerospace, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Jinxiong Zhou

Authors
  1. Bo Li
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  2. Hualing Chen
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  3. Jinxiong Zhou
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Correspondence to Hualing Chen.

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Li, B., Chen, H. & Zhou, J. Modeling of the muscle-like actuation in soft dielectrics: deformation mode and electromechanical stability. Appl. Phys. A 110, 59–63 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-7457-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-7457-6

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