The electro-mechanical phase transition of Gent model dielectric elastomer tube with two material constants

Applied to voltage, a dielectric elastomer membrane may deform into a mixture of two states under certain conditions. One of which is the flat state and the other is the wrinkled state. In the flat state, the membrane is relatively thick with a small area, while on the contrary, in the wrinkled state, the membrane is relatively thin with a large area. The coexistence of these two states may cause the electromechanical phase transition of dielectric elastomer. The phase diagram of idea dielectric elastomer membrane under unidirectional stress and voltage inspired us to think about the liquid-to-vapor phase transition of pure substance. The practical working cycle of a steam engine includes the thermodynamical process of liquid-to-vapor phase transition, the fact is that the steam engine will do the maximum work if undergoing the phase transition process. In this paper, in order to consider the influence of coexistent state of dielectric elastomer, we investigate the homogeneous deformation of the dielectric elastomer tube. The theoretical model is built and the relationship between external loads and stretch are got, we can see that the elastomer tube experiences the coexistent state before reaching the stretching limit from the diagram. We think these results can guide the design and manufacture of energy harvesting equipments.