Issue 14, 2011

Electro-creasing instability in deformed polymers: experiment and theory

Abstract

Subjected to an electric field, a substrate-bonded polymer film develops a biaxial compressive stress parallel to the film. Once the electric field reaches a critical value, the initially flat surface of the polymer locally folds against itself to form a pattern of creases. We show that mechanical deformation of the polymer significantly affects the electro-creasing instability. Biaxially pre-stretching the polymer film before bonding to the substrate greatly increases the critical field for the instability, because the pre-stretch gives a biaxial tensile stress that counteracts the electric-field-induced compressive stress. We develop a theoretical model to predict the critical field by comparing the potential energy of the film at flat and creased states. The theoretical prediction matches consistently with the experimental results. The theory also explains why biaxially pre-stretching a dielectric-elastomer film greatly enhances the measured breakdown field of the film.

Graphical abstract: Electro-creasing instability in deformed polymers: experiment and theory

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 abr 2011
Accepted
03 mai 2011
First published
06 jun 2011

Soft Matter, 2011,7, 6583-6589

Electro-creasing instability in deformed polymers: experiment and theory

Q. Wang, M. Tahir, L. Zhang and X. Zhao, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 6583 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05645J

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