Harnessing snap-through instability in soft dielectrics to achieve giant voltage-triggered deformation
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- 1 January 2012
- journal article
- Published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in Soft Matter
- Vol. 8 (2), 285-288
- https://doi.org/10.1039/c1sm06736b
Abstract
A soft dielectric membrane is prone to snap-through instability. We present theory and experiment to show that the instability can be harnessed to achieve giant voltage-triggered deformation. We mount a membrane on a chamber of a suitable volume, pressurize the membrane into a state near the verge of the instability, and apply a voltage to trigger the snap without causing electrical breakdown. For an acrylic membrane we demonstrate voltage-triggered expansion of area by 1692%, far beyond the largest value reported in the literature. The large expansion can even be retained after the voltage is switched off.Keywords
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