Pull-in and wrinkling instabilities of electroactive dielectric actuators

D de Tommasi (1) , G Puglisi (1) , G Saccomandi (2) , G Zurlo (1)

1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale
2 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale

We propose a model to analyze the insurgence of pull-in and wrinkling failures in electroactive thin films. We take in consideration both cases of voltage and charge control, the role of prestretch and the size of activated regions, which are all crucial factors in technological applications of EAPs. Based on simple geometrical and material assumptions we deduce an explicit analytical description of these phenomena, allowing a clear physical interpretation of different failure mechanisms such as the occurrence of pull-in and wrinkling. Despite our simple assumptions, the comparison with experiments shows a good qualitative and, interestingly, quantitative agreement. In particular our model shows, in accordance with experiments, the existence of different optimal prestretch values, depending on the choice of the actuating parameter of the EAP.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

D de Tommasi, G Puglisi, G Saccomandi, G Zurlo. Pull-in and wrinkling instabilities of electroactive dielectric actuators. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2010, 43 (32), pp.325501. ⟨10.1088/0022-3727/43/32/325501⟩. ⟨hal-00569671⟩