Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics
Development of soft electromechanical materials is critical for several tantalizing applications such as human-like robots, stretchable electronics, actuators, energy harvesting, among others. Soft dielectrics can be easily deformed by an electric field through the so-called electrostatic Maxwell st...
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ASME International
2019
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120313 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5387-6186 |
| _version_ | 1811086057404366848 |
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| author | Yang, Shengyou Zhao, Xuanhe Sharma, Pradeep |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Yang, Shengyou Zhao, Xuanhe Sharma, Pradeep |
| author_sort | Yang, Shengyou |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Development of soft electromechanical materials is critical for several tantalizing applications such as human-like robots, stretchable electronics, actuators, energy harvesting, among others. Soft dielectrics can be easily deformed by an electric field through the so-called electrostatic Maxwell stress. The highly nonlinear coupling between the mechanical and electrical effects in soft dielectrics gives rise to a rich variety of instability and bifurcation behavior. Depending upon the context, instabilities can either be detrimental, or more intriguingly, exploited for enhanced multifunctional behavior. In this work, we revisit the instability and bifurcation behavior of a finite block made of a soft dielectric material that is simultaneously subjected to both mechanical and electrical stimuli. An excellent literature already exists that has addressed the same topic. However, barring a few exceptions, most works have focused on the consideration of homogeneous deformation and accordingly, relatively fewer insights are at hand regarding the compressive stress state. In our work, we allow for fairly general and inhomogeneous deformation modes and, in the case of a neo-Hookean material, present closed-form solutions to the instability and bifurcation behavior of soft dielectrics. Our results, in the asymptotic limit of large aspect ratio, agree well with Euler's prediction for the buckling of a slender block and, furthermore, in the limit of zero aspect ratio are the same as Biot's critical strain of surface instability of a compressed homogeneous half-space of a neo-Hookean material. A key physical insight that emerges from our analysis is that soft dielectrics can be used as actuators within an expanded range of electric field than hitherto believed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:20:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/120313 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:20:13Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | ASME International |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1203132022-10-01T14:38:11Z Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics Yang, Shengyou Zhao, Xuanhe Sharma, Pradeep Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Zhao, Xuanhe Development of soft electromechanical materials is critical for several tantalizing applications such as human-like robots, stretchable electronics, actuators, energy harvesting, among others. Soft dielectrics can be easily deformed by an electric field through the so-called electrostatic Maxwell stress. The highly nonlinear coupling between the mechanical and electrical effects in soft dielectrics gives rise to a rich variety of instability and bifurcation behavior. Depending upon the context, instabilities can either be detrimental, or more intriguingly, exploited for enhanced multifunctional behavior. In this work, we revisit the instability and bifurcation behavior of a finite block made of a soft dielectric material that is simultaneously subjected to both mechanical and electrical stimuli. An excellent literature already exists that has addressed the same topic. However, barring a few exceptions, most works have focused on the consideration of homogeneous deformation and accordingly, relatively fewer insights are at hand regarding the compressive stress state. In our work, we allow for fairly general and inhomogeneous deformation modes and, in the case of a neo-Hookean material, present closed-form solutions to the instability and bifurcation behavior of soft dielectrics. Our results, in the asymptotic limit of large aspect ratio, agree well with Euler's prediction for the buckling of a slender block and, furthermore, in the limit of zero aspect ratio are the same as Biot's critical strain of surface instability of a compressed homogeneous half-space of a neo-Hookean material. A key physical insight that emerges from our analysis is that soft dielectrics can be used as actuators within an expanded range of electric field than hitherto believed. M.D. Anderson Foundation (Houston, Tex.) National Science Foundation (U.S.). Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (Grant No. 1463339) Qatar National Research Fund. National Priorities Research Program (award NPRP 6-282-2-119) 2019-02-11T15:18:16Z 2019-02-11T15:18:16Z 2017-01 2016-12 2019-01-16T13:30:49Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0021-8936 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120313 Yang, Shengyou, Xuanhe Zhao, and Pradeep Sharma. “Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics.” Journal of Applied Mechanics 84, no. 3 (January 24, 2017): 031008. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5387-6186 http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.4035499 Journal of Applied Mechanics Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf ASME International ASME |
| spellingShingle | Yang, Shengyou Zhao, Xuanhe Sharma, Pradeep Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics |
| title | Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics |
| title_full | Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics |
| title_short | Revisiting the Instability and Bifurcation Behavior of Soft Dielectrics |
| title_sort | revisiting the instability and bifurcation behavior of soft dielectrics |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120313 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5387-6186 |
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