Finite bending of a dielectric elastomer actuator and pre-stretch effects

A sandwiched dielectric elastomer actuator consisting of a hyperelastic material layer and two pre-stretched dielectric elastomer layers is introduced in this work, which is bi-directionally bendable when subject to a direct current voltage on the top or bottom layer. By using the pure bending deformation assumption and the nonlinear electroelasticity theory, the voltage-induced finite bending deformation of the actuator is studied theoretically...