Electro-Thermal and -Mechanical Model of Thermal Breakdown in
Multilayered Dielectric Elastomers
Abstract
Multiple breakdown phenomena may take place when operating dielectric
elastomers. Thermal breakdown, which occurs due to Joule heating,
becomes of special importance when using multilayered stacks of
dielectric elastomers, due to the large volume-to-surface-area-ratio. In
this article, a 2D axisymmetric finite-element model of a multilayered
stack of dielectric elastomers is set up in \comsol. Both
the electro-thermal and electro-mechanical couplings are considered,
allowing for determination of the onset of thermal breakdown. Simulation
results show that an entrapped particle in the dielectric elastomer
drastically reduces the possible number of layers in the stack.
Furthermore, the possible number of layers is greatly affected by the
ambient temperature and the applied voltage. The performance of three
hyperelastic material models for modelling the elastomer deformation are
compared, and it is established that the Gent model yields the most
restrictive prediction of breakdown point, while the Ogden model yields
the least restrictive estimation.