Dielectric elastomer (DE) is a promising electroactive polymer. As DE material, rubbers are often filled with functional particles to improve their electromechanical performance. However, the filled particles also bring stress softening, which is known as Mullins effect. In this paper, we prepared the carbon nanotube filled silicone elastomer (SE) as DE composite and modeled its Mullins effect using the pseudo-elastic theory. Then, the thermodynamics of DE was combined to predict the idealized electromechanical softening behavior. Two cases are considered: linear dielectric and saturated dielectric. For linear dielectric with an initial force, “residual strain” will appear after every voltage-controlled cycle, and instability may be eliminated in reloading. For saturated dielectric, the material response changes a lot after saturation, which also affects the subsequent softening behavior. At last, viscoelasticity was further incorporated to account for rate-dependent softening deformation, and we also carried out some simple electromechanical experiments on VHB 4910 to explore its softening behavior. This work may lead to a better understanding of the softening behavior in DEs undergoing electromechanical coupling situations.
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November 2018
Research-Article
Electromechanical Modeling of Softening Behavior for Dielectric Elastomers
Xiongfei Lv,
Xiongfei Lv
Department of Astronautic Science
and Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of
Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
and Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of
Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
Search for other works by this author on:
Liwu Liu,
Liwu Liu
Department of Astronautic Science and
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
Search for other works by this author on:
Yanju Liu,
Yanju Liu
Department of Astronautic Science and
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
e-mail: yj_liu@hit.edu.cn
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
e-mail: yj_liu@hit.edu.cn
Search for other works by this author on:
Jinsong Leng
Jinsong Leng
Centre for Composite Materials and Structures,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 2 Yikuang Street,
P.O. Box 3011,
Harbin 150080, China
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 2 Yikuang Street,
P.O. Box 3011,
Harbin 150080, China
Search for other works by this author on:
Xiongfei Lv
Department of Astronautic Science
and Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of
Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
and Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of
Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
Liwu Liu
Department of Astronautic Science and
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
Yanju Liu
Department of Astronautic Science and
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
e-mail: yj_liu@hit.edu.cn
Mechanics,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 92 West Dazhi Street,
P.O. Box 301,
Harbin 150001, China
e-mail: yj_liu@hit.edu.cn
Jinsong Leng
Centre for Composite Materials and Structures,
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 2 Yikuang Street,
P.O. Box 3011,
Harbin 150080, China
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
No. 2 Yikuang Street,
P.O. Box 3011,
Harbin 150080, China
1X. Lv and L. Liu contributed equally to this work.
2Corresponding authors.
Contributed by the Applied Mechanics Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF APPLIED MECHANICS. Manuscript received January 30, 2018; final manuscript received May 20, 2018; published online August 31, 2018. Assoc. Editor: Junlan Wang.
J. Appl. Mech. Nov 2018, 85(11): 111010 (10 pages)
Published Online: August 31, 2018
Article history
Received:
January 30, 2018
Revised:
May 20, 2018
Citation
Lv, X., Liu, L., Liu, Y., and Leng, J. (August 31, 2018). "Electromechanical Modeling of Softening Behavior for Dielectric Elastomers." ASME. J. Appl. Mech. November 2018; 85(11): 111010. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4040405
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