A mathematical model for cylindrical,fiber reinforced electro-pneumatic actuators

In recent years, dielectric elastomers have received increasing attention due to their unparalleled large strain actuation response (>100%). The force output, however, has remained a major limiting factor for many applications. To address this limitation, a model for a fiber reinforced dielectric elastomer actuator based on the deformation mechanism of McKibben actuators is presented. In this novel configuration, the outer cylindrical surface of a dielectric elastomer is enclosed by a network of helical fibers that are thin, flexible and inextensible. This configuration yields an axially contractile actuator, in contrast to unreinforced actuators which extend. The role of the fiber network is twofold: (i) to serve as reinforcement to improve the load-bearing capability of dielectric elastomers, and (ii) to render the actuator inextensible in the axial direction such that the only free deformation path is simultaneous radial expansion and axial contraction. In this paper, a mathematical model of the electromechanical response of fiber reinforced dielectric elastomers is derived. The model is developed within a continuum mechanics framework for large deformations. The cylindrical electro-pneumatic actuator is modeled by adapting Green and Adkins’ theory of reinforced cylinders to account for the applied electric field. Using this approach, numerical solutions are obtained assuming a Mooney–Rivlin material model. The results indicate that the relationship between the contractile force and axial shortening is bilinear within the voltage range considered. The characteristic response as a function of various system parameters such as the fiber angle, inflation pressure, and the applied voltage are reported. In this paper, the elastic portion of the modeling approach is validated using experimental data for McKibben actuators.     

A rate-dependent three-dimensional free energy model for ferroelectric single crystals

The one-dimensional free energy model for ferroelectric materials developed by Smith et al. [Smith, R.C., Seelecke, S., Ounaies, Z., 2002. A free energy model for piezoceramic materials. In: 9th SPIE Conference on Smart Structures and Materials, San Diego, USA, pp. 17–22; Smith, R.C., Seelecke, S., Ounaies, Z., Smith, J., 2003. A free energy model for hysteresis in ferroelectric materials. J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct. 14, 719–739; Smith, R.C., Seelecke, S., Dapino, M.J., Ounaies, Z., 2005. A unified framework for modeling hysteresis in ferroic materials. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 54, 46–85] is generalized to three space dimensions including both polarization and strain. In the resulting nine-dimensional energy function, six free energy potentials representing the six distinct types of tetragonal variants of perovskite lattice structures are given as quadratic functions of polarization vector and strain tensor. Energy barrier expressions as functions of thermodynamic driving forces are obtained through a generalization of the one-dimensional equations derived from the model of Smith et al. This approach presents an alternative to the cumbersome determination of higher-dimensional saddle points and is attractive for a computationally efficient implementation. The energy barrier expressions are combined with evolution equations for the variant fractions based on the theory of thermally activated processes and thus allow for a natural treatment of rate-dependent effects. The predictions of the model are compared with recent measurements on BaTiO₃ single crystals by Burcsu et al. [Burcsu, E., Ravichandran, G., Bhattacharya, K., 2004. Large electrostrictive actuation of barium titanate single crystals. J. Mech. Phys. 52, 823–846]. The effects of applied stress and 90°- and 180°-switching processes are discussed in detail.     

Dynamic response of tubular dielectric elastomer transducers

In this paper, a numerical model for the dynamic response of tubular dielectric elastomer transducers is presented and validated with experimental results for the first time. Dielectric elastomers (DE) are soft polymer based smart materials that can be potentially employed in applications such as actuation, sensing and energy harvesting (Kornbluh, 2004, Carpi et al., 2005, Waki et al., 2008). In our previous work, the quasi-static response of tubular DE transducers was studied (Goulbourne et al., 2007, Son and Goulbourne, 2009). Here, a numerical model is developed to predict the dynamic response of tubular DE transducers. Inertia effects are included in our previous static model which yields a system of partial differential equations. The results of the dynamic response of the tubular DE transducers are obtained by numerically solving the simplified partial different equations using a finite difference scheme. The capacitance change induced by the dynamic deformation of the tubular DE is also calculated by a simple electrostatic model, illustrating dynamic passive sensing.Several tubular DE transducer samples (VHB 4905 and silicone) were fabricated and an experimental setup was developed to investigate the dynamic response by measuring capacitance and radial deformation. In the sensing experiments, a sweep of dynamic pressure profiles (0–5 Hz) are applied. It is observed that silicone transducers have a larger dynamic sensing range. In the actuation experiments, the deformation of the silicone actuator is monitored while a voltage signal (4.5 kV) is applied from 0 to 30 Hz. The silicone actuator shows a good actuation response. The comparison between numerical and experimental results for the DE transducers shows an overall error of 3%.     

Multiaxial Mechanical Characterization of Interpenetrating Polymer Network Reinforced Acrylic Elastomer

The acrylic elastomer membrane VHB 4910 is a material widely used for applications as Dielectric Elastomer Actuators DEA. For suitable actuation performance however, it is necessary to pre-strain the very compliant membrane. This reduces the lifetime of DEA due to early failure of the tensioned membrane. Interpenetrating Polymer Network Reinforced Acrylic Elastomers (IPN) are produced by introducing a curable additive into the pre-strained acrylic elastomer membrane. While curing at elevated temperature, the additive forms a second polymeric network that supports part of the pre-strain in the acrylic membrane. This leads to a free standing material that combines the actuation performance of pre-strained VHB 4910 with an excellent long-term reliability. This work presents a detailed mechanical characterization of acrylic IPN membranes. To reduce the experimental effort required to characterize the nonlinear elastic behavior, we developed a unique specimen design that enables the assessment of uni- and biaxial stress states within one experiment. Slight changes in the material composition of IPN-membranes lead to substantial variations in their mechanical properties. The extraction of material behavior in different kinematic states within a single sample thus reduces the uncertainty on the determination of constitutive models. An extensive experimental campaign was carried out involving uniaxial and equibiaxial tension and relaxation. Image based local deformation measurements and iterative finite element calculations were applied to derive constitutive model parameters that describe the mechanical response in a wide range of planar strain and strain rate.     

Electric field-induced surface transformations and experimental dynamic characteristics of dielectric elastomer membranes

Acute and tunable surface transformations of a monolithic structure by application of an electric field have immediate significance for adaptive structures, morphing concepts and optical applications. Dielectric elastomer (DE) membranes are electric field-responsive materials typically employed as large strain electrostatic actuators. In this paper, it is demonstrated that an electric field will generate several symmetric surface shapes analogous to the mode shapes in the classical drumhead or stretched membrane problem. In a previous experimental study, a single surface transformation creating ripples or waves on an initially smooth surface was observed for an electrically excited DE membrane. The unexpected result led to the development of an experimental setup that would facilitate extensive characterization of the dynamic surface transformations of dielectric elastomer membranes. The new results clearly show that the electric field can be used to tune the patterns of the DE surface. Furthermore, the membrane will go through resonance when a periodic electric field is applied if the system conditions are favorable, which has not been observed before now. This presents a unique opportunity to increase the output displacement of DE membranes without electrically overloading the membrane. The experiments show that increasing the size of the chamber onto which the membrane is clamped will increase the peak deformation as well as cause the membrane's resonance peaks to shift and change in number. For DE membranes driven at 1.5 kV, at the smallest chamber volume, the maximum actuation displacement is 81 μm; while at the largest chamber volume, the maximum actuation displacement is 1431 μm. This corresponds to a 1767% increase in maximum pole displacement. The dependence on chamber volume suggests that under dynamic conditions a systems level analysis is needed for DE actuators. The effect of voltage offset as a means of modulating the dynamic deformation response is also reported in this study.     

On the dynamic electromechanical loading of dielectric elastomer membranes

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have received considerable attention recently due to large voltage-induced strains, which can be over 100%. Previously, a large deformation quasi-static model that describes the out-of-plane deformations of clamped diaphragms was derived. The numerical model results compare well with quasi-static experimental results for the same configuration. With relevance to dynamic applications, the time-varying response of initially planar dielectric elastomer membranes configured for out-of-plane deformations has not been reported until now. In this paper, an experimental investigation and analysis of the dynamic response of a dielectric elastomer membrane is reported. The experiments were conducted with prestretched DEAs fabricated from 0.5 mm thick polyacrylate films and carbon grease electrodes. The experiments covered the electromechanical spectrum by investigating membrane response due to (i) a time-varying voltage input and (ii) a time-varying pressure input, resulting in a combined electromechanical loading state in both cases. For the time-varying voltage experiments, the membrane had a prestretch of three and was passively inflated to various predetermined states, and then actuated. The pole strains incurred during the inflation were as high as 25.6%, corresponding to slightly less than a hemispherical state. On actuation, the membrane would inflate further, causing a maximum additional strain of 9.5%. For the time-varying pressure experiments, the prestretched membrane was inflated and deflated mechanically while a constant voltage was applied. The membrane was cycled between various predetermined inflation states, the largest of which was nearly hemispherical, which with an applied constant voltage of 3 kV corresponded to a maximum polar strain of 28%. The results from these experiments reveal that the response of the membrane is a departure from the classical dynamic response of continuum membrane structures. The dynamic response of the membrane is that of a damped system with specific deformation shapes reminiscent of the classical membrane mode shapes but without same-phase oscillation, that is to say all parts of the system do not pass through the equilibrium configuration at the same time. Of particular interest is the ability to excite these deformations through a varying electrical load at constant mechanical pressure.     

Temperature effects on the dynamic response of viscoelastic dielectric elastomer

Viscoelasticity and temperature can significantly affect the performance of a dielectric elastomer. In the current study, we use a thermodynamic model to describe the effect of temperature and viscoelasticity on the electromechanical response undergoing a cyclic electric load by taking into account of the temperature dependent dielectric constant. Because of the significant viscoelasticity in the dielectric elastomer, the deformation and the nominal electric displacement can not keep in phase with the electric field at low frequencies. The results show that the magnitude of the cyclic electromechanical actuation strain increases with the decrease of the temperature and decreases with the increasing frequency, and viscoelasticity can result in significant hysteresis for dielectric elastomers under a relative low temperature and a low frequency.     

Optical properties of two-dimensional polymer photonic crystals after deformation-induced pattern transformations

The photonic band structure and optical transmittance of two-dimensional periodic elastomeric photonic crystals are studied computationally to understand the effects of large strains on optical properties of the structures. The large compressive deformation patterns of the two-dimensional periodic structure studied by Mullin and coworkers [Mullin, T., Deschanel, S., Bertoldi, K., Boyce, M.C., 2007. Pattern transformation triggered by deformation. Physical Review Letters 99(8), 084301] are first reproduced using hyperelastic material models for the elastomer SU-8. Finite element analysis is then used to solve Maxwell's equations to obtain light transmittance through both the undeformed and deformed structures; simultaneously the wave equation resulting from the appropriate two-dimensional form of Maxwell's equations is solved as an eigenvalue problem to obtain the band structure. The deformation-induced shift in transmission spectrum valleys for different bands is calculated, and the changes in the width of these reflectance peaks are also obtained. The band structure calculation shows that there are no complete photonic band gaps as expected for the low dielectric contrast system. However, the effect of the observed reversible, symmetry-breaking deformation pattern is to uncouple many of the photonic bands in all three high symmetry directions, i.e. Γ–X, X–M, and Γ–M. New non-degenerate deformation-induced optical modes appear in both the real space transmittance spectra and the band structure with lower reflectance values. Analyses of the deformation pattern, the optical mode shapes, and the photonic band structure reveal that localized regions of large rotation are responsible for the significant changes in optical transmittance. The results have practical importance for the design of strain-tunable optomechanical materials for sensing and actuation.     

超弹性橡胶材料的改进Rivlin模型

讨论了不可压缩橡胶材料的超弹性唯象本构模型。针对典型实验,给出选择应变能函数的原则。从物理机理上,分析了Neo-Hookean模型、Mooney模型、三阶Rivlin模型及Ogden模型的优缺点。在此基础上,将Rivlin模型改进成为 ,这种新形式具有三个优点：①若取前三项（N=1）,则其结果与不可压缩线弹性的应变能相等,能够近似满足剪切的线性关系,但拉伸及压缩的线性关系是精确满足的。②当N≥2时,简单剪切中的应变能及剪应力τxy在小应变情况下是以剪应变γxy为等比的多项式展开;而Rivlin模型只能保证简单剪切实验中的应变能及剪应力τxy是以(γxy)2为等比的级数展开的形式,当取前两项的情况下,Rivlin模型只能精确保证常剪切,拉伸及压缩的线性关系无法得到保证。针对典型实验数据,若取同阶次多项式,本文模型的同类实验数据预测及不同类实验数据间相互预测的精度都比Rivlin模型的高。     

血管的应力和零应力位形

针对切开血管段得到的零应力位形，引入包括张开角在内的四个几何参数表示从零应力位形到完整血管的几何变换，按弹性物体有限变形的原理，采用Mooney—Rivlin物质模型，讨论所引入参数与血管中应力，压力和轴向力的定量关系。     

An electromechanical liquid crystal model of vesicles

An electromechanical liquid crystal model is developed for characterizing the equilibrium morphology of a lipid vesicle under coupled mechanical and electrical fields. A general equation that governs the vesicle shape is established, which incorporates the effects of elastic bending, osmotic pressure, surface tension, Maxwell pressure, as well as flexoelectric and dielectric properties of the lipid membrane. As an illustration of the model, the problem of an axisymmetric vesicle (e.g., a sphere or a cylinder) in a uniform electric field is considered in some detail, with results in agreement with relevant experimental results. The model provides an efficient tool for studying morphological evolution of dielectric vesicles under mechanical and electrical fields.     

介电高弹聚合物理论

软材料受刺激会发生变形, 该变形会引起相应的功能, 这种材料称为活性软材料(soft active material, SAM). 本综述主要讨论介电高弹聚合物这一类活性软材料. 当介电高弹聚合物薄膜受到厚度方向的电压作用时, 薄膜厚度减小同时面积增大, 可导致超过100{\%}的应变. 介电高弹聚合物作为转换器被广泛应用, 包括柔性机器人、智能光学器件、盲文显示屏、发电机等. 本文综述了建立在连续介质力学和热力学框架内的、并且基于分子理论描述和经验观测的介电高弹聚合物理论. 该理论耦合了大变形和电势, 描述了非线性和非平衡行为, 如力电失稳和黏弹性. 采用该理论能够通过有限元方法模拟实际构型的转换器, 计算力电能量转换的效率, 给出电致大变形的可行途径. 该理论有助于材料和器件设计.     

Incorporating the effects of fabric in the dilatant double shearing model for planar deformation of granular materials

The objective of this paper is to incorporate the effects of fabric and its evolution into the Dilatant Double Shearing Model [Mehrabadi, M.M., Cowin, S.C., 1978. Initial planar deformation of dilatant granular materials. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 26, 269–284] for granular materials in order to capture the anisotropic behavior and the complex response of granular materials in cyclic shear loading. An important consequence of considering the fabric is that one can have unequal shearing rates along the two slip directions. This property leads to the non-coaxiality of the principal axes of stress and strain rate, which is more appropriate for a material that exhibits initial and induced anisotropy. In addition, we employ a fabric-dependent elasticity tensor with orthotropic symmetry. The model developed in this paper also predicts one of the experimentally observed characteristics of granular materials: the gradual concentration of the contact normals towards the maximum principal stress direction.We implement the constitutive equations into ABAQUS/Explicit by writing a user material subroutine in order to predict the strength anisotropy of granular materials in a plane strain biaxial compression test and investigate the mechanical behavior of granular materials under the cyclic shear loading conditions. The predictions from this model show good quantitative agreement with the experiments of [Park, C.S., 1990. Anisotropy in deformation and strength properties of sands in plane strain compression, Masters Thesis, University of Tokyo; Park, C.S., Tatsuoka, F., 1994. Anisotropic strength and deformation of sands in plane strain compression. In: XIII ICSMFE, New Delhi, India; Okada, N., 1992. Energy dissipation in inelastic flow of cohesionless granular media. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, San Diego].     

Modeling of dielectric viscoelastomers with application to electromechanical instabilities

Soft dielectrics are electrically-insulating elastomeric materials, which are capable of large deformation and electrical polarization, and are used as smart transducers for converting between mechanical and electrical energy. While much theoretical and computational modeling effort has gone into describing the ideal, time-independent behavior of these materials, viscoelasticity is a crucial component of the observed mechanical response and hence has a significant effect on electromechanical actuation. In this paper, we report on a constitutive theory and numerical modeling capability for dielectric viscoelastomers, able to describe electromechanical coupling, large-deformations, large-stretch chain-locking, and a time-dependent mechanical response. Our approach is calibrated to the widely-used soft dielectric VHB 4910, and the finite-element implementation of the model is used to study the role of viscoelasticity in instabilities in soft dielectrics, namely (1) the pull-in instability, (2) electrocreasing, (3) electrocavitation, and (4) wrinkling of a pretensioned three-dimensional diaphragm actuator. Our results show that viscoelastic effects delay the onset of instability under monotonic electrical loading and can even suppress instabilities under cyclic loading. Furthermore, quantitative agreement is obtained between experimentally measured and numerically simulated instability thresholds. Our finite-element implementation will be useful as a modeling platform for further study of electromechanical instabilities and for harnessing them in design and is provided as online supplemental material to aid other researchers in the field.     

A power-form method for dynamic systems: investigating the steady-state response of strongly nonlinear oscillators by their equivalent Duffing-type equation

This paper aims to apply a transformation method that replaces the elastic forces of the original equation of motion with a power-form elastic term. The accuracy obtained from the derived equivalent equations of motion is evaluated by studying the finite-amplitude damped, forced vibration of a vertically suspended load body supported by incompressible, homogeneous, and isotropic viscohyperelastic elastomer materials. Numerical integrations of the original equations of two oscillators described by neo-Hookean and Mooney–Rivlin viscohyperelastic elastomer material models, and their equivalent equations of motion, are compared to the frequency–amplitude steady-state solutions obtained from the harmonic balance and the averaging methods. It is shown from numerical integrations and approximate steady-state solutions that the equivalent equations predict well the original system dynamic response despite having higher system nonlinearities.

     

具有线性介电常数的Ogden型介电弹性体的本构关系和机电稳定性

应用多材料常数的Ogden弹性应变能函数分析了介电弹性体的力学行为,研究了介电弹性体的机电稳定性.数值结果表明,通过对材料系数(如材料常数比和电致伸缩系数等)的恰当调节可以使得介电弹性体材料或介电弹性体结构更趋稳定.这些有益于深入理解介电弹性体的机电稳定性行为,进而设计恰当的介电弹性体器件.     

Mechanics of deformation-triggered pattern transformations and superelastic behavior in periodic elastomeric structures

Recently, novel and uniform deformation-induced pattern transformations have been found in periodic elastomeric cellular solids upon reaching a critical value of applied load [Mullin, T., Deschanel, S., Bertoldi, K., Boyce, M.C., 2007. Pattern transformation triggered by deformation. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 084301; Boyce, M.C., Prange, S.M., Bertoldi, K., Deschanel, S., Mullin, T., 2008. Mechanics of periodic elastomeric structures. In: Boukamel, Laiarinandrasana, Meo, Verron (Eds.), Constitutive Models for Rubber, vol. V. Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp. 3–7]. Here, the mechanics of the deformation behavior of several periodically patterned two-dimensional elastomeric sheets are investigated experimentally and through numerical simulation. Square and oblique lattices of circular voids and rectangular lattices of elliptical voids are studied. The numerical results clearly show the mechanism of the pattern switch for each microstructure to be a form of local elastic instability, giving reversible and repeatable transformation events as confirmed by experiments. Post-deformation transformation is observed to accentuate the new pattern and is found to be elastic and to occur at nearly constant stress, resulting in a superelastic behavior. The deformation-induced transformations have been physically realized on structures constructed at the millimeter length scale. This behavior should also persist at the micro and nano length scales, providing opportunities for transformative photonic and phononic crystals which can switch in a controlled manner and also exploiting the phenomenon to imprint complex patterns.     

A constitutive model of polyacrylate interpenetrating polymer networks for dielectric elastomers

A physically based method is proposed to represent interpenetrating polymer networks and their electromechanical behavior. The mechanical behavior of the material is nonlinear elastic and the electromechanical coupling arises from electrostatic effects often called the Maxwell stress effect. Ha et al. have synthesized interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) that invalidate the need for an external pre-stretch mechanism in dielectric elastomers. IPNs of acrylic elastomer and 1, 6-hexanediol diacrylate were successfully synthesized to create free-standing films with preserved prestretch. This results in a dual polymer network, with one polymer network in tension and the other in compression. The prestretch is preserved chemically in the dominant network. The internal prestretch is accompanied by an overall stiffening of the dual polymer network leading to compromised actuation strains. A mechanistically simple representation of the networks is proposed by means of a model of two springs in parallel, replaced by an equivalent single spring. A material parameter is introduced to account for the effect of the weight percent of the secondary network. The effect of the additive on the preserved prestretch in the primary network and hence the overall stress strain response is determined. Specifically, a modified Ogden strain energy function is proposed that describes the mechanical behavior of the new interpenetrating polymer network. The electromechanical response of the material is described using a previously presented constitutive formulation that works well for single network polymers. The model results indicate that ideally an interpenetrating polymer network DE should not stiffen when the secondary network is formed to avoid reduced actuation strains.     

Wedge and twist disclinations in second strain gradient elasticity

The aim of this paper is to study disclinations in the framework of a second strain gradient elasticity theory. This second strain gradient elasticity has been proposed based on the first and second gradients of the strain tensor by Lazar et al. [Lazar, M., Maugin, G.A., Aifantis, E.C., 2006. Dislocations in second strain gradient elasticity. Int. J. Solids Struct. 43, 1787–1817]. Such a theory is an extension of the first strain gradient elasticity [Lazar, M., Maugin, G.A., 2005. Nonsingular stress and strain fields of dislocations and disclinations in first strain gradient elasticity. Int. J. Eng. Sci. 43, 1157–1184] with triple stress. By means of the stress function method, the exact analytical solutions for stress and strain fields of straight disclinations in an infinitely extended linear isotropic medium have been found. An important result is that the force stress, double stress and triple stress produced by wedge and twist disclinations are nonsingular. Meanwhile, the corresponding elastic strain and its gradients are also nonsingular. Analytical results indicate that the second strain gradient theory has the capacity of eliminating all unphysical singularities of physical fields.     

Large conversion of energy in dielectric elastomers by electromechanical phase transition

When air is pumped in, a tubular balloon initially inflates slightly and homogeneously. A short section of the balloon then forms a bulge, which coexists with the unbulged section of the balloon. As more air is pumped in, the bulged section elongates at the expense of the unbulged section, until the entire balloon is bulged. The phenomenon is analogous to the liquid-to-vapor phase transition. Here we study the bulging transition in a dielectric elastomer tube as air is pumped into the balloon and a voltage is applied through the thickness of the membrane. We formulate the condition for coexistent budged and unbulged sections, and identify allowable states set by electrical breakdown and mechanical rupture. We find that the bulging transition dramatically amplifies electromechanical energy conversion. Energy converted in an electromechanical cycle consisting of unbulged and bulged states is thousands of times that in an electrome-chanical cycle consisting of only unbulged states.