Novel dielectric elastomer structures with electromechanical instability

Abstract

Dielectric elastomer (DE) actuators can convert electrical energy to mechanical energy. However, actuating DE membranes requires applying high voltage. Continuously applying high voltage on DE actuator causes failures such as current leakage and electric breakdown. To overcome the high voltage actuation drawbacks of DE actuators, this paper raises a new actuation method using DE interacting with external elastic structures. The analysis is demonstrated based on continuum mechanics, and agrees very well with experiment measurements.