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Experimental Study and Numerical Modelling of Creep and Stress Relaxation of Dielectric Elastomers
Author(s) -
Sahu R.,
Patra K.,
Szpunar J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
strain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.477
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1475-1305
pISSN - 0039-2103
DOI - 10.1111/str.12117
Subject(s) - creep , materials science , stress relaxation , elastomer , relaxation (psychology) , dielectric , stress (linguistics) , viscoelasticity , composite material , deformation (meteorology) , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , engineering , psychology , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy , optoelectronics
Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are gaining acceptance as potential actuator materials because of their exhibition of a large amount of deformation when stimulated by electrostatic forces. However, time‐dependent behaviour such as creep and stress relaxation still pose a great challenge for the design, modelling and control of the DE‐based actuators. In this work, attempts are made for experimental estimation and modelling of creep and relaxation properties of one of the most widely used dielectric acrylic elastomers, VHB 4910. Experimental investigation shows that the material possesses strong time‐dependent creep and stress relaxation. It has been shown that creep and stress relaxation characteristics vary with the holding stress and holding strain respectively. Creep and stress relaxation properties are also shown to depend on the number of cycles in the case of cyclic loading. Results also show that Findley's power law can successfully model the creep and stress relaxation behaviour of the VHB 4910 elastomer.