NON-LINEAR DYNAMICS OF DIELECTRIC ELASTOMER ACTUATORS

Abstract

Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEA) are a special class of Electro-active Polymers whose potential application is in the field of smart structures wherein huge strains are required. The nature and physics of DEA can be inspected through various methods. In the present work, the static instability parameters have been obtained on application of quasi-static voltage. An energy approach for the analysis of uniformly deforming membrane of DEA subjected to unequal biaxial pre-stresses has been examined. The system of governing equations of motion has been derived analytically by the application of Euler-Lagrange ap-proach. The approximate critical electric field values for various ratios of biaxial pre-stresses (from 0 to 1) have been obtained using numerical integration technique. The present work offers potential for development of analytical model to directly extract the dynamic instability - parameters.