By employing recent results (Lopez-Pamies, O., 2014, “Elastic Dielectric Composites: Theory and Application to Particle-Filled Ideal Dielectrics,” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 64, p. 6182 and Spinelli, S. A., Lefèvre, V., and Lopez-Pamies, O., “Dielectric Elastomer Composites: A General Closed-Form Solution in the Small-Deformation Limit,” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 83, pp. 263–284.) on the homogenizatio...

Dielectric elastomers undergo large deformations in response to an electric field and consequently have attracted significant interest as electromechanical transducers. Applications of these materials include actuators capable of converting an applied electric field into mechanical motion and energy harvesting devices that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Numerically based desi...

We present a dynamic finite element formulation for dielectric elastomers that significantly alleviates the problem of volumetric locking that occurs due to the incompressible nature of the elastomers. We accomplish this by modifying the Q1P0 formulation of Simo et al. [1], and adapting it to the electromechanical coupling that occurs in dielectric elastomers. We demonstrate that volumetr ic lo...

We present a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element formulation for dielectric elastomers. The mechanical and electrical governing equations are solved monolithically using an implicit time integrator, where the governing finite element equations are given for both static and dynamic cases. By accounting for inertial terms in conjunction with the Arruda–Boyce rubber hyperelastic constitutiv...

In the past decade, dielectric elastomers have emerged as promising multifunctional smart energy-transduction materials in several actuation, sensing, and electric power generation applications. As actuators, dielectric elastomers have demonstrated strains (over 300%) and specific energy density (over 3.4 J/g) larger than that observed in any other field-activated smart material. In generator m...

We present a new finite deformation, dynamic finite element model that incorporates surface tension to capture elastocapillary effects on the electromechanical deformation of dielectric elastomers. We demonstrate the significant effect that surface tension can have on the deformation of dielectric elastomers through three numerical examples: (1) surface tension effects on the deformation of sin...

This paper presents the results of a series of experiments designed to measure the suitability of selected dielectric elastomers as artificial muscle actuators. The paper aims to differentiate between three widely used dielectric elastomers, 3M VHB-4910, BJB Enterprises TC-5005 and NuSil Technology’s CF19-2186. The materials are compared in terms of their ease of manufacture, strain, electrical...

Dielectric elastomers represent today excellent materials for the realisation of electric field driven polymer actuators capable of high performances. A new kind of actuator made of dielectric elastomers, able to show in principle electrically activated linear contractions, is here theoretically described. The device consists of an elastomeric hollow cylinder, having two helical electrodes inte...

We present a computational study of the effects of viscoelasticity on the electromechanical behavior of dielectric elastomers. A dynamic, finite deformation finite element formulation for dielectric elastomers is developed that incorporates the effects of viscoelasticity using the nonlinear viscoelasticity theory previously proposed by Reese and Govindjee. The finite element model features a th...