Honors Theses

Advisor

Robert Lowe, Ph.D.

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Publication Date

11-2025

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Dielectric elastomers have attracted significant attention because of their large voltage-induced mechanical strains, fast response times, high specific elastic energy (3.4 J/g), and strong electro-mechanical conversion efficiency. Circular dielectric elastomer membrane actuators (DEAs) have proven valuable for evaluating new elastomers, electrodes and their combinations; eliciting interesting vibratory and dynamic response; and validating new electro-mechanical constitutive models and membrane mechanics models. Despite their practical importance, experimental data quantifying the quasi-static voltage-stretch response of circular DEAs under the action of DC voltages is limited. To address this, we perform an experimental program designed to interrogate the impact of electrode diameter and membrane pre-stretch on the quasi-static electro-mechanical response (e.g., voltage vs. stretch, electrical breakdown, and eccentricity of the active area) of circular DEAs. When the electrode diameter is held constant and the pre-stretch is varied, membranes with larger pre-stretches exhibit greater voltage-induced deformations and transition into a more compliant electro-mechanical regime at lower voltages. When the pre-stretch is fixed and the electrode diameter is varied, the tests revealed that smaller electrodes produced larger stretch magnitudes and more compliant behavior, while larger electrodes resulted in stiffer responses. The findings from this study provide meaningful insight into the electro-mechanical coupling mechanisms that govern soft dielectric actuators. In particular, the results reinforce the critical role of pre-stretch in stabilizing membrane actuation and mitigating electro-mechanical instability.

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