Modified model for mechanical behavior of electroactive polymer in thermal environment

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) belong to electro-active polymers having high stretchability, rapid response, high energy density, etc. which makes them suitable candidature for the fabrication of soft electromechanical devices. In real application properties of DEs deteriorates due to internal heating and thermal environment. In this work, to realize the rate dependent behavior in thermal environment, material model is modified by using Maxwell elements and hyperelastic equilibrium spring. Formulation is based on the theory of multiplicative split of the deformation gradient and consequently non-linear evolution laws are applicable to study time-dependent material behavior. Further, modified material model is validated well with existing data for one-dimensional thermal environment at different strain rate and stretch, under loading and unloading conditions. Obtained results from modified model shows higher accuracy as compared to existing model and will be helpful for the researchers to evaluate the material behavior for soft robotic components at various range of temperature