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Model of dissipative dielectric elastomers

Dielectric elastomers are soft materials that deform under voltage and force. The performance of these materials when they are used as transducers is affected by dissipative processes (Fig. 1), such as viscoelasticity, dielectric relaxation, and current leakage. Dissipation undermines performance and plays a key role in any possible application of the technology. In this work, we describe a method to construct a model of dissipative dielectric elastomers based on nonequilibrium thermodynamics.

Schematics of local dissipative processes: (a) viscoelastic relaxation due to sliding of polymer chains; (b) dielectric relaxation due to re-orientation of dipoles along the direction of the applied electric field.

Citation Info.

Choon Chiang Foo, Shengqiang Cai, Soo Jin Adrian Koh, Siegfried Bauer, Zhigang Suo. Model of dissipative dielectric elastomers. Journal of Applied Physics, 111, 034102 (2012).