On rate-dependent dissipation effects in electro-elasticity

This paper deals with the mathematical modelling of large strain electro-viscoelastic deformations in electro-active polymers. Energy dissipation is assumed to occur due to mechanical viscoelasticity of the polymer as well as due to time-dependent effective polarisation of the material. Additive decomposition of the electric field E = Ee + Ev and F = FeFv multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient are proposed to model the internal dissipation mechanisms. The theory is illustrated with some numerical examples in the end