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Electro-mechanical coupling of Dielectro Electro-active polymers
Posted Sep 24, 2009, 7:49 a.m. EDT 0 Replies
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1)I am trying to simulate the characteristics of electro-active polymer actuators to study their stress/strain(large deformations) vs. applied voltage
2))In principle they are compliant capacitors made of polymers for dielectric and compliant conductive coating for electrodes.
3)When the capacitor is electrically charged with a high DC voltage (kilovolts), the electrodes squeeze the elastic dielectric in the direction of generated electric field to attract the oppososing charges and thus, the nearly incompressible dielectric film expands in-plane directions
4)The electrostatic pressure acting on the elastic dielectric can be calculated for any given applied voltage and dielectric thickness.
Electrostatic pressure= 8.85*10^-12*dielectric constant* (Voltage/thickness of the dielectric)^2
This is the only equation available for the electro-mechanical coupling.
5)DC Voltages are in the order of up to 10KV (in case of 1 mm dielectric thickness) and deformations are in the order of 10% to 30% for pre-stretched actuators.
Strain-stress 3d module+electrostatic module???
I do not know how to link or couple these two modules. I am new to COMSOL! I appreciate if anyone could provide me with some feedback? if you require more info please ask.
Please advise and thanks for your time and patience in advance.
K.
Hello Kambiz Daheshpour
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