Thermoelectromechanical stability of dielectric elastomers undergoing temperature variation

In this paper, the influence of both temperature and deformation on dielectric constant is considered during the establishment of free energy function of dielectric elastomers. A constitutive model of the thermodynamic systems undergoing adiabatic process is derived to study its thermoelectromechanical stability. The relations between different work conjugated parameters of dielectric elastomer are theoretically described, including the relations between nominal electric field and nominal electric displacement, entropy and temperature. Under different temperatures and electric fields, the allowable energy range of dielectric elastomer is calculated. Furthermore, the electric-induced variation of dielectric elastomer's temperature and entropy is also studied under various principal planar stretch ratios. These simulation results should offer assistances in guiding the design and fabrication of excellent actuators featuring dielectric elastomers. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.