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Electromechanical stability of compressible dielectric elastomer actuators

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2011 Smart Mater. Struct. 20 115015

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IOP PUBLISHING SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015 (12pp) doi:10.1088/0964-1726/20/11/115015

Electromechanical stability of
compressible dielectric elastomer
actuators
Liwu Liu1 , Yanju Liu1,5 , Jinsong Leng2,5 and Kin-tak Lau3,4
1
Department of Astronautical Science and Mechanics, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
PO Box 301, No. 92 West Dazhi Street, Harbin 150001, Peoples Republic of China
2
Centre for Composite Materials, Science Park of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT),
PO Box 3011, No. 2 YiKuang Street, Harbin 150080, Peoples Republic of China
3
Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites, Faculty of Engineering and
Surveying, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon,
Hong Kong SAR, Peoples Republic of China

E-mail: yj liu@hit.edu.cn and lengjs@hit.edu.cn

Received 9 May 2011, in final form 21 September 2011

Published 14 October 2011
Online at stacks.iop.org/SMS/20/115015

Abstract
The constitutive relation and the electromechanical stability of VargaBlatzKo-type
compressible isotropic dielectric elastomers undergoing large deformation are investigated in
this paper. Free energy in any form, which consists of elastic strain energy and electric field
energy, can be applied to analyze the electromechanical stability of dielectric elastomers. The
constitutive relation and the electromechanical stability are analyzed by applying a new kind of
free energy model, which consists of elastic strain energy, composed of the Varga model as the
volume conservative energy and the BlatzKo model as the volume non-conservative energy,
and electric field energy with constant permittivity. The ratio between the principal planar
stretches, the ratio between the thickness and length direction stretches, and the power exponent
of the stretch are defined to characterize the mechanical loading behavior and compressible
behavior of the dielectric elastomer. Along with the increase of these parameters, which
determine the shape or volume of the elastomer, and the Poisson ratio, the critical nominal
electric field is higher, which indicates a more stable dielectric elastomer electromechanical
system. In contrast, with the decrease of the dimensionless material parameter of the Varga
elastic strain energy, the critical nominal electric field increases. The coupling system becomes
more stable. We further demonstrate that the critical nominal electric field of the compressible
dielectric elastomer electromechanical coupling system is significantly influenced by the ratio
between the principal planar stretches.
(Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction density, high efficiency, high responsive speed, good durability

Electroactive polymer materials have been extensively
developed and intensively studied in recent years [18].
Dielectric elastomer (DE) is regarded as the most promising
electroactive polymer material for transducers; it is capable
of very large recoverable deformation, high elastic energy
5 Authors to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
and reliability [15]. It has attracted much attention in
recent years [110]. Dielectric elastomers usually work as
capacitors with variable capacitances. When an electric field
is applied across the two electrodes, the induced charge causes
an electrostatic attraction between them. The electrical force
between the electrodes, also known as Maxwell stress, leads
to a reduction in the membrane thickness, which in turn
results in elongation in the plane of the membrane. Their

0964-1726/11/115015+12$33.00 1 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK & the USA
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015
potential applications include smart actuators and sensors,
energy harvesters, smart space robots, Braille display, adaptive
optics, etc. All of these indicate a good prospect for
dielectric elastomers, especially in the areas of mechatronics,
biomimetics, aeronautics and astronautics [18].
Electromechanical instability significantly influences the
dielectric elastomer actuation and can lead to failures of the
whole system. When a piece of dielectric elastomer membrane
is sandwiched between two compliant electrodes with a high
electric field, due to the electrostatic force between the two
electrodes, the membrane expands in plane and contracts
out-of-plane with its thickness being reduced. The reduced
thickness in turn results in a stronger electric field which
squeezes the membrane to a greater extent. When the electric
field exceeds a critical value, the dielectric elastomer breaks
down and the actuator ceases to function. We call this process
the electromechanical instability [9, 32].
Recently, a lot of research has been conducted focusing
on the nonlinear mechanics, electromechanical instability
and failures of incompressible dielectric elastomers [838].
Zhao and Suo proposed a theory to investigate the
electromechanical instability. Their study proved that pre-
stretch can improve the critical nominal electric field and
enhance the electromechanical stability. The numerical values
of the critical electric field which were obtained based
on the proposed theory coincide well with experimental
observations [9]. An elastic strain energy function with
two material constants was employed in the authors
previous work to analyze the stability performance of
dielectric elastomers [10]. Norrisa used the Ogden elastic
strain energy model to analyze the stability of dielectric
elastomers [11]. The relations among the critical actual
electric field, nominal strain and pre-stretching of dielectric
elastomers were obtained accurately. Daz-Callejas group
investigated the electromechanical stability performance of
neo-Hookean silicone by applying the neo-Hookean elastic
strain energy, in which the stable and unstable domains
help us to thoroughly understand the electromechanical
performance of neo-Hookean silicone [12]. Furthermore, they
researched the deformation and furcation of incompressible
silicone under an electric field [13]. Based on the previous
research, Liu et al investigated the electromechanically
stable domain of MooneyRivlin type silicone rubber and
formulated the Hessian matrices under two specific loading
conditions [14]. Zhu and Suo studied the dynamic and
chaotic performance of dielectric elastomer balloons by
applying the neo-Hookean elastic strain energy coupled with
the electric field energy with invariable permittivity [15].
Zhao and Suo proposed that the permittivity could be fitted
as a linear function depending on the stretch. Based on
this, they analyzed the mechanical performance of dielectric
elastomers undergoing large deformation and studied their
electromechanical stability by applying the neo-Hookean
elastic strain energy function [16]. Furthermore, Liu
et al proposed a nonlinear expression for the permittivity.
Accordingly they derived the analytic expression of the
electromechanical stability parameters on the basis of the
free energy function in any form [1719]. Adrian Koh
2
L Liu et al
et al made a theoretical analysis of the failure of dielectric
elastomer energy harvesting, and computed the amount of
energy generated in one cycle and the corresponding maximal
efficiency [20, 21]. We studied a typical failure model of a
MooneyRivlin type silicone energy harvester, illustrated the
allowable areas under the two conditions of equal-biaxial and
unequal-biaxial loadings, respectively, calculated the energy
production in one cycle of an energy harvester, designed a new
harvester, and conducted its primary tests [22]. Moscardo et al
investigated the failure of dielectric elastomer rolling actuators
through the neo-Hookean elastic strain energy coupled
with the electric field energy with invariable permittivity,
and demonstrated the optimal design theory [23]. Zhu
et al analyzed the large deformation and electromechanical
instability of a dielectric elastomer tube actuator [24]. Zhao
and Suo proposed a programmable design method for dielectric
elastomer actuators [25]. Xu et al, using the total stress
concept, obtained explicit results for the equilibrium state and
critical electric field for dielectric elastomer actuators [26].
Suo et al proposed a nonlinear field theory of deformable
dielectrics [27]. Suo and Zhu studied the mechanical
behavior, large deformation behavior, and stability behavior of
dielectric elastomers in interpenetrating networks [30]. Zhao
and Suo built a dielectric elastomer theory concerning giant
electrical actuation deformation, and predicted the possibility
of manufacturing a dielectric elastomer undergoing giant
deformation [31]. The electromechanical stability of dielectric
elastomers undergoing inhomogeneous large deformation was
investigated by He et al [35]. Li et al studied dielectric
elastomers in conditions of polarization saturation [35, 36].
All of the related papers above are based upon the
assumption of incompressible dielectric elastomers. As we
know, a dielectric elastomer is actually a network of polymer
chains. Each polymer chain consists of many monomers.
The polymer chains are crosslinked by covalent bonds. The
covalent bonds give the solid-like behavior of the rubber. If
these crosslinks are removed, the rubber becomes a polymer
melt in liquid form. In fact, a dielectric elastomer is very
similar to a liquid at the level of monomers, where the scales
are not large enough yet to include any crosslinks. Like
liquids, the polymers are densely packed and it is difficult to
change the rubbers volume. Also, like liquids, the polymers
can move relative to one another, which contributes to the
dielectric elastomers strong abilities in shape variation [40].
For this reason, most dielectric elastomers can be taken as
incompressible materials. Moreover, from an experimental
point of view, although the bulk moduli of the elastomers are
not infinitely great, they are usually much larger than the shear
moduli [41]. Therefore, considering dielectric elastomers as
incompressible materials is a reasonable approximation.
In most of the application circumstances, there is little
difference between using compressible models and using
incompressible ones. As a simple example, in the uniaxial
tensile test, the volume change is less than one per cent of
the initial volume [42, 43]. However, in the static water
compression experiment in which elastomers are subjected to
a very large pressure, the volume change is relatively large,
and can be 10%20% of the initial volume. Furthermore,
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015
Figure 1. Compressible dielectric elastomer undergoing electromechanical coupling deformation.
the relationship between pressure change and volume change
tends to be nonlinear. In this case, the incompressible
model can no longer fit [4446]. In many circumstances
with special load and boundary conditions, such as imitating
the three dimensional stress state or circumstances with
rigid boundary conditions, we must use the compressible
model. Therefore, the strict constitutive model of elastomers
should be compressible [43]. It should be emphasized
that dissipative effects are not considered when studying
compressible dielectric elastomers. Moreover, for some
specific elastomer materials, such as dielectric elastomer
composite materials mixed up with particles, foam elastomers,
and multiaperture rubber elastomers, the compressibility can
never be ignored.
This paper proposes an analytical method for the constitu-
tive relation, large deformation and electromechanical stability
of compressible dielectric elastomers. The electromechanical
stability is analyzed through a new kind of free energy model,
which consists of the VargaBlatzKo elastic strain energy and
the electric field energy density with constant permittivity. The
VargaBlatzKo model consists of the Varga model and Blatz
Ko model as the isochoric and distortional parts of the elastic
strain energy respectively. The relation between the nominal
electric field and the nominal electric displacement is derived
and the critical stability parameters are obtained.
2. Free energy of compressible dielectric elastomer
In figure 1, the mechanical loads T1 , T2 and T3 are applied to
the elastomer in the directions of length, width and thickness
respectively. It is supposed that the original size of the
reference state is x 1 , x 2 and x 3 , and then the compressible
dielectric elastomer deforms to a current state with the sizes
X 1 , X 2 and X 3 in the three directions. 1 , 2 and 3 are the
principal stretch rates. By coating compliant electrodes on both
surfaces, we applied a voltage U to the dielectric elastomer,
and therefore an amount of charge Q is accumulated on the
electrodes. When the sizes of the elastomer change by small
amounts x 1 , x 2 and x 3 , the mechanical loads perform the
work T1 x 1 , T2 x 2 and T3 x 3 . Similarly, the electric voltage
3
L Liu et al
performs the work U Q . Therefore, the Helmholtz free
energy for the system is written as A = T1 x 1 + T2 x 2 +
T3 x 3 +U Q , and the Helmholtz free energy density function
is expressed as W = s1 1 + s2 2 + s3 3 + E D .
Therefore, the equations of state of the compressible dielectric
elastomer thermodynamics system are
W (1 , 2 , 3 , D )
s1 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = (1a )
1
W (1 , 2 , 3 , D )
s2 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = (1b )
2
W (1 , 2 , 3 , D )
s3 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = (1c)
3
W (1 , 2 , 3 , D )
E (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = . (1d )
D
Once the free energy function (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) is known
for a given elastic dielectric, equations (1) constitute the
equations of state. The stretches are defined as 1 = X 1 /x 1 ,
2 = X 2 /x 2 and 3 = X 3 /x 3 ; the nominal stresses can
be derived from the un-deformed state by dividing the pre-
stretch forces by the areas before deformation: s1 = T1 /x 2 x 3 ,
s2 = T2 /x 1 x 3 and s3 = T3 /x 1 x 2 ; the true stresses are
1 = T1 / X 2 X 3 , 2 = T2 / X 1 X 3 and 3 = T3 / X 1 X 2 . Thus,
we have the relations between each nominal and true value:
1 = s1 /2 3 , 2 = s2 /1 3 , 3 = s3 /1 2 .
Similarly, the nominal electric field is defined as E = U x3
and the nominal electric displacement is D = x1Qx2 , so that
the true electric field is related to the nominal electric field by
E = 3UX 3 = E3 . Also, the true electric displacement is related
to the nominal electric displacement by D = 1 x1Q2 x2 = D1 2 .
The free energy function hfor the electromechanical cou-
pling thermodynamics system can be expressed as [28, 29, 32]
W (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = U (1 , 2 , 3 )+ V (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) (2)
where U (1 , 2 , 3 ) and V (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) are the elastic
strain energy and the electrical field energy density functions
respectively.
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015 L Liu et al

The compressible model of elastomers is normally 3. Constitutive relations of compressible dielectric

modified on the basis of the incompressible model, which elastomer
is usually described by two parts: the partial elastic strain
energy and the hydrostatic pressure strain energy; this Substituting equation (6) into (1), we obtain the nominal stress
means the volume conservative part and the volume non- and nominal electric field of compressible dielectric elastomer
conservative. The two parts, volume conservative and volume as
2 1
non-conservative, are expressed by the first, second and third si (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = {[1 2( j z ) 12 i 12 ]
invariants of the unimodular deformation tensors. And the 2
2 41
hydrostatic stress components in total stress only depend on + [2( j z ) 12 i12
i ]}
2
the volume conservative strain energy part.
D 2 1 1
In the case where the volume of the compressible 3 1
(7a )
dielectric elastomer does not remain constant, in this 2 1 2 i

D 1 1
paper, we assume that the elastic strain energy is the E (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = 3 . (7b )
superposition of two parts: U (1 , 2 , 3 ) and U (1 , 2 , 3 ), 1 2
representing the volume conservative and non-conservative The corresponding true stress and true electric field are
energies respectively. expressed as
122 12
1
For the volume conservative energy, the Varga model with i (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = j 1
z {[1 2( j z )
1
i ]
two material parameters is employed, the specific form is given 2
by [39] 2
41 D 2 2 2
+ [2( j z ) 12 i12 2
]} (8a )

i
2 1 2
U (1 , 2 , 3 ) = [(1 + 2 + 3 3) D
2 E(D) = (8b )

+ (11 + 21 + 31 3)] (3)
where i , j , z = 13, and i = j = z .
where is the shear modulus under small deformation, and
are the dimensionless material parameters, which are related 4. Electromechanical stability of compressible
to the material of the dielectric elastomer and the structure of dielectric elastomer
its application structure. Moreover, + = 1; these are 4.1. Electric field and electric displacement
determined by experimental data.
For a compressible dielectric elastomer, the Hessian matrix can
For the elastic strain energy of the homogeneous isotropic
be written as
compressible elastomer, Blatz and Ko provided the function
as [39] H=
s1 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D) s1 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) s1 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) s1 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D )
 1 2 3 D
1 2 2
s2 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) s2 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) s2 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) s2 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D )

U (1 , 2 , 3 ) = [(1 2 3 ) 12 1] 1
s3 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D )
2
s3 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D )
3
s3 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D )
D
s3 (1 ,2 ,3 ,D )
2 1 2 3 D
 E (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) E (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) E (1 ,2 ,3 ,D ) E (1 ,2 ,3 ,D )
1 2 2 1 2 3 D
+ [(1 2 3 ) 12 1] (4) (9)

where and are identical with those in equation (2). is the where

Poisson ratio for infinitesimal deformation, and 1 2 3 = 1 s1 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) 2 2
22
= (2 3 ) 12 112
for homogeneous isotropic elastic compressible materials. 1 2 1 2


The electric field energy density is expressed as [4, 3337] 8 2 2 62
+ (2 3 ) 12 112 213
1 2
D 2 1 1 2
V (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = 3 (5)
D
3 1 3
2 1 2 1 2 
where is the permittivity, for VHB acrylic acid dielectric s2 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) 2 2 22
= (1 3 ) 12 212
elastomer, 4.680 [47], 0 = 8.85 1012 F m1 [32] 2 2 1 2


is the permittivity of vacuum. 8 2 2
62
3
+ (1 3 ) 2 22
1 2
12
Thus, we give the specific free energy of compressible 1 2
dielectric elastomer as follows: D 2 1 3
 3
1 2
W (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) = (1 + 2 + 3 3) 
2 s3 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) 2 2
22
= (1 2 ) 12 312
1 2 2 3 2 1 2
+ [(1 2 3 ) 12 1]

8 2 2 62

+ (11 + 21 + 31 3) + (1 2 ) 12 312 233

1 2

1 2 2 D 2 1 1 E (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) 11 21 3
+ [(1 2 3 ) 12 1] + 3 . (6) =
2 1 2 D

4
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015 L Liu et al

s1 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) s2 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) into equation (7), we obtain the nominal electric field and the
=
1 nominal electric displacement as follows:

2
4  112 112 122 
= 1 2 3 D m(t0 )   3k(t0 ) 2 2k(t0 )8 
2 1 2 = 2(m(t0 )n(t0 )) 12 12
 n(t0 )
41 41 2 D 2 2 2
+ 112 212 312 + 3 2 4k(t0 )+2k(t0 ) 
2 1 2 + [2(m(t0 )n(t0 )) 12 12 1k(t0 ) ]

s1 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) s3 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) s1 m(t0 ) 3k(t0 ) 1/2
= 2
1 n(t0 )

3
4 112 122 112 E
= (1 2 3
2 1 2 /
 
41 2 41 D 2 2 1 n(t0 )   k(t0 )1 2 k(t0 )24k(t0 ) 
+ 112 212 312 ) + = 2(m(t0 )n(t0 )) 12 12
2 1 2 m(t0 )
s1 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) E (1 , 2 , 3 , D )  2 k(t0 )2+8 
= + 2(m(t0 )n(t0 )) 12 12 k(t0 )3
D 1 
s1 n(t0 ) k(t0 )1 1/2
12 21 3 D 2
= m(t0 )

(11a )
s2 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) s3 (1 , 2 , 3 , D )
= D
2

3
4  122 112 112  2
= 1 2 3 m (t0 )   3k(t0 ) 2k(t0 )8 
2 1 2 = 2m(t0 ) 12 n(t0 ) 12 12
1 2

41
 n(t0 )
2 41 D 2 1 2  
+ 112 212 312 41 2 4k(t0 )+2k(t0 )
2 1 2 + 2m(t0 ) 12 n(t0 ) 12 12 1k(t0 )
s2 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) E (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) 
= s2 m 2 (t0 ) 3k(t0 ) 1/2
D 2 2
n(t0 )
1 2
3 D E
= 1 2
/
s3 (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) E (1 , 2 , 3 , D ) 
=   2 k(t0 )24k(t0 ) 
= n(t0 ) k(t0 )1 2m(t0 ) 12 n(t0 ) 12 12
1

D 3
1 1  
D 41 2 k(t0 )2+8
= 1 2 . (10) + 2m(t0 ) 12 n(t0 ) 12 12 k(t0 )3

To obtain a stable state for the compressible dielectric s2 n(t0 ) k(t0 )1 1/2
2
elastomer, the determinant of the Hessian matrix should
be positive. When the compressible dielectric elastomers (11b )

electromechanical coupling system reaches the critical state, D s3 m(t0 ) 2
det(HC) = 0. Solving equation (10), we can get the = 2 m(t0 )

critical electromechanical stability parameters of compressible   2 2k(t0 )8 
2 2m(t0 ) 12 n(t0 ) 12 12
1
dielectric elastomers, such as the critical nominal electric field

E max (t0 ), the critical true electric field E max
(t0 ), the critical  2 41 4k(t0 )k(t0 )+2
+ 2m(t0 ) 12 n(t0 ) 12 12
nominal stress sC (t0 ), the critical true stress C (t0 ) and the 
critical stretch C (t0 ). 2 22k(t0 )
 1/2
n(t0 )
For compressible dielectric elastomers, the stretch in
each principal direction is relatively independent. In order 
E s3 n 2 (t0 ) 2k2 n 2 (t0 )
to analyze the electromechanical stability of compressible = 2
/ m(t0 ) m(t0 )
dielectric elastomers, we prescribe 1 = , 2 = m(t)   2k2 k(t0 )24k(t0 ) 
122
n(t0 ) 12 12
1
and 3 = n(t)k(t) , where m(t), n(t), k(t) are time- 2m(t0 )
dependent functions. m(t) is the ratio between principal 1/2
 2 41 8+k(t0 )2 
planar stretches. n(t) is the ratio between the thickness and + 2m(t0 ) 12 n(t0 ) 12 12 n(t0 )2 2 .
length direction stretches, which determines the shape of the
elastomer. n(t) is the power exponent of the stretch, which (11c)
determines the volume of the elastomer. These parameters,
which determine the shape or volume of the elastomer, can In the following, we assume that the tensile forces applied
characterize the mechanical loading behavior and compressible on the dielectric elastomer are equal, and the original sizes in
behavior of dielectric elastomer. In the study of quasi-static the three principal directions are equal too; we have T1 = T2 =
deformation, at a certain time t0 , substituting the simplification T3 , x 1 = x 2 = x 3 , therefore s1 = s2 = s3 .

5
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015
Figure 2. Nominal electric displacement and nominal electric field. Variables:
k(t0 ) = 1.)
Figure 3. Stretch and nominal electric field. Variables:
4.2. Influence of the Poisson ratio on the electromechanical
stability of compressible dielectric elastomers
Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the electromechanical stability
performance of different compressible dielectric elastomer
materials or structures under loading conditions of 1 = 2 =
, 3 = 1 and = = 12 , m(t0 ) = n(t0 ) = 1,
L Liu et al
s1
, . (1 = 2 = , = = 12 , m(t0 ) = 1, n(t0 ) = 1,
s1
, . (1 = 2 = , = = 12 , m(t0 ) = 1, n(t0 ) = 1, k(t0 ) = 1.)
k(t0 ) = 1. (To simplify the labels in the figures, we use
m , n , k instead of m(t0 ), n(t0 ), k(t0 ).) Figures 2(a)(d) show
the relation between the nominal electric displacement and the
nominal electric field of the compressible dielectric elastomer
with different values of ( 16 , 15 , 14 , 13 ) and different values of
s1
(0, 0.25) respectively. The critical points for instability
are marked as | in figures 27. Evidently, along with the
6
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015 L Liu et al

Figure 4. Nominal electric displacement and nominal electric field. Variables: s1

, n(t0 ). (1 = 2 = , = = 12 , m(t0 ) = 1, k(t0 ) = 1,
= 1/4.)

Figure 5. Nominal electric displacement and nominal electric field. Variables: s2

, k(t0 ). (1 = 2 = , = = 12 , m(t0 ) = 1, n(t0 ) = 1,
= 1/4.)

increase of , the peaks of the nominal electric field increase
and the electromechanical stability improves. However, the
comparative stability performance of this kind of dielectric
elastomer is even lower when s1 increases. For s1 = 0, with
of 16 and 13 , the corresponding critical nominal electric fields
are 0.4982 / and 1.006 / . For representative values of
= 1 106 Pa, = 4 1011 F m1 , the critical nominal
electric fields are E max 0.79 108 , 1.28 108 V m1 , which
are approximately equal to the magnitudes of the reported
breakdown fields [9].
Figure 3 plots the relation between the nominal electric
field and the stretch when the Poisson ratio bears different
values. Evidently, the nominal electric field of compressible
dielectric elastomer increases along with the increasing stretch;
when it reaches the critical value, the electric field decreases
and tends to a stable value. In a special example, when = 14

7
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015
Figure 6. Nominal electric displacement and nominal electric field. Variables:
k(t0 ) = 1, = 1/4.)
Figure 7. The critical nominal electric field, the critical stretch, the critical area strain and the critical thickness strain. Variables:
(1 = 2 = , = = 12 , n(t0 ) = 1, k(t0 ) = 1, = 1/4.)
and the nominal stress s1 = 0, 0.25, the corresponding critical
stretch is C = 1.41, 1.71 respectively. And the corresponding
direction equals 50%, 66%. For incompressible dielectric
elastomer, the experimental value of thickness strain is less
than 40% [9, 32], but for compressible dielectric elastomer, it
can be larger. Clearly, the critical stretch increases along with
the increase of nominal stress. In another example, When the
nominal stress s1 = 0, no matter what values the Poisson ratio
takes, say 16 , 15 , 14 , or 13 , the critical stretch is always C = 1.41.
8
L Liu et al
s1 s2
, ,
m(t0 ). (1 = 2 = , = = 12 , n(t0 ) = 1,
s1 s2
, ,
m(t0 ).
This demonstrates that the change of Poisson ratio will not
influence the value of the critical stretch; however, the critical
stretch increases along with the nominal stress increasing.
4.3. Influence of the ratio between thickness direction stretch
and length direction stretch on the electromechanical stability
of compressible dielectric elastomers
Figure 4 illustrates the electromechanical stability performance
of different compressible dielectric elastomer materials or
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015
Figure 8. The critical nominal electric field, the critical stretch, the critical area strain and the critical thickness strain. Variable: n(t0 ).
(1 = 2 = , = = 12 , m(t0 ) = 1, k(t0 ) = 1, = 1/4.)
structures under loading conditions of 1 = 2 = , material
parameter conditions of = = 1, = 14 , shape parameter
condition of m(t0 ) = 1, and volume parameter condition of
k(t0 ) = 1. Along with the increase of the ratio between the
thickness direction stretch and the length direction stretch n(t0 )
or decrease of s1 , the critical nominal electric field increases
and the electromechanical stability improves.
4.4. Influence of the power exponent of stretch on the
electromechanical stability of compressible dielectric
elastomers
Figure 5 shows the relation between the nominal electric field
and the nominal electric displacement when the stretch power
exponent k(t0 ) bears different values (2.125, 2.25, 2.325,
2.5) and s2 takes different values (0, 0.05). It is evident that
the peak of the nominal electric field increases along with the
increasing of the stretch power exponent k(t0 ), which means
that its electromechanical stability performance improves;
otherwise the critical nominal electric field declines along with
s2
increasing, which means that the electromechanical stability
performance goes down.
4.5. Influence of the ratio between principal planar stretches
on the electromechanical stability of compressible dielectric
elastomers
Figure 6 plots the relation between the nominal electric
field and the nominal electric displacement of different
compressible dielectric elastomer materials or structures for
various values of the ratio between principal planar stretches
m(t0 ), with the loading condition 1 = 2 = , material
9
L Liu et al
parameter conditions = = 1, = 14 , shape parameter
condition n(t0 ) = 1, and volume parameter condition k(t0 ) =
1. Along with the increase of m(t0 ) or decrease of s1 or s2 ,
the critical nominal electric field increases and the stability
of the compressible dielectric elastomer electromechanical
coupling system improves.
5. The critical nominal electric field, the critical
stretch, the critical area strain and the critical
thickness strain of compressible dielectric elastomer
For compressible dielectric elastomer, at time t0 , we calculated
the parameters of the compressible dielectric elastomers
electromechanical stability, such as the critical nominal electric
field E max (t0 ), the critical stretch C (t0 ), the critical area strain
SC (t0 ), and the critical thickness strain h C (t0 ). E max
(t0 ) and
C (t0 ) are determined by equation (11), SC (t0 ) and h C (t0 )
depend on the following relations:
SC (t0 ) = m(t0 )C (t0 )2 (12)
h C (t0 ) = n(t0 )k(t
C
0)
. (13)
Figures 711 show the changing law of the parameters
characterizing the compressible dielectric elastomers stability
performance under different material parameters. As shown in
these figures, with the increase of m(t0 ), n(t0 ), k(t0 ) and , the
critical electric field of the compressible dielectric elastomer
increases, and the compressible dielectric elastomer becomes
more stable. However, along with the decrease of , the
critical electric field increases, and the compressible dielectric
elastomers electromechanical coupling system becomes more
stable.
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015
Figure 9. The critical nominal electric field, the critical stretch, the critical area strain and the critical thickness strain. Variable: k(t0 ).
(1 = 2 = , = = 12 , m(t0 ) = 1, n(t0 ) = 1, = 1/4.)
In figure 7 the nominal stresses in directions 1 and 2
have different influences on the electromechanical instability
by selecting different values of m(t0 ). For 0 < m(t0 )  1,
we have E max (s1 )  E max(s2 ) where the critical nominal electric
field of the system is determined by E max (s2 ) ( E max = E max(s2 ) );
on the other hand, when 1 < m(t0 )  2, we have E max(s1 ) 
electric field and nominal electric displacement of com-
E max (s2 ) , thus the E max(s1 ) dominate the systems critical
nominal field ( E max = E max (s1 ) ), as marked in figure 7 with
blue lines. Along with the increase of m(t0 ), the critical stretch
and the critical area strain experience a drop before increase;
however, the critical thickness strain increases. Evidently,
as figure 8 illustrates, the critical stretch and critical area
strain increase along with the increasing stretch ratio n(t0 );
however, the critical thickness strain increases. As shown
in figure 9, along with increase of k(t0 ), the critical stretch
and the critical area strain experience a drop before increase;
however, the critical thickness strain increases. The curve
in figure 10 suggests that these critical values are insensitive
to the change of Poisson ratio, and the change of Poisson
ratio will not influence the values of the critical stretch, the
critical area strain and the critical thickness strain. Figure 11
illustrates the changing law of the parameters characterizing
the compressible dielectric elastomers stability performance
under different values of the material parameter . Along with
the increase of , the critical nominal electric field and critical
thickness strain decrease, indicating lower system stability,
while the critical stretch and critical area strain are improved.
6. Conclusions
This paper investigates the constitutive relation and elec-
tromechanical stability of Varga type compressible dielec-
10
L Liu et al
tric elastomer through the free energy function, which
is composed of the electric field energy with invariable
permittivity and the elastic strain energy, which consists
of the Varga model as the volume conservative energy
and the BlatzKo model as the volume non-conservative
energy. Furthermore, the relations between the nominal
pressed dielectric elastomers under different loading con-
ditions are obtained. Finally, the critical stability param-
eters, such as the critical nominal electric field, critical
stretch, critical area strain and critical thickness strain, are
yielded. The results show that the critical nominal electric
field increases along with either increase of the ratios of
principal stretches, m(t0 ), n(t0 ), the power exponent of
stretch, k(t0 ), and the Poisson ratio, , or decline of the
material constant , which means that a thermodynamic
system based on compressible dielectric elastomers is more
stable. This indicates that, to make dielectric elastomer
transducers with excellent properties, it is essential to raise
the ratios of the planar pre-stretches properly. When
0 < m(t0 )  1, the critical nominal electric field,
E max , equals E max (s2 ) . Otherwise, if 1 < m(t0 )  2,
E max has the same value as E max (s1 ) . We think that these
results can be used to facilitate the design and manufac-
ture of transducers based on compressible dielectric elas-
tomer, which advances the understanding of these promising
materials.
Acknowledgments
The one-year visit of Liwu Liu to Harvard University was
supported by the China Scholarship Council Foundation. The
Smart Mater. Struct. 20 (2011) 115015 L Liu et al

Figure 10. The critical nominal electric field, the critical stretch, the critical area strain and the critical thickness strain. Variable: .
(1 = 2 = , = = 12 , m(t0 ) = 1, n(t0 ) = 1, k(t0 ) = 1.)

Figure 11. The critical nominal electric field, the critical stretch, the critical area strain and the critical thickness strain. Variable: .
(1 = 2 = , m(t0 ) = 1, n(t0 ) = 1, k(t0 ) = 1, = 14 .)

author hereby acknowledges Professor Zhigang Suos foresight
and sagacious guidance on the theory of dielectric elastomers.
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