Electromechanical instability in anisotropic dielectric elastomers

In this paper, we analyze the electromechanical instability of anisotropic dielectric elastomers. When an electric field and biaxial stress are applied to a dielectric elastomer, the homogeneous deformation of the dielectric elastomer may be unstable and pull-in instability and bifurcation instability may occur. Based on the previous investigations on the incompressible anisotropic elastic solids and dielectric elastomers, we outline the theory of anisotropic dielectrics. The electromechanical instability is considered for a thin layer of a dielectric elastomer sandwiched between two compliant electrodes. Analytic solutions are obtained for the classic neo-Hookean model of anisotropic materials. The results show that the stability of the dielectric elastomer is remarkably enhanced by anisotropy parameter. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.