Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Soft Matter. 2017 Jun 14;13(23):4305-4310. doi: 10.1039/c7sm00917h.
We demonstrate, using both finite element simulations and a linear stability analysis, the emergence of an electro-elastocapillary Rayleigh-plateau instability in dielectric elastomer (DE) films under 2D, plane strain conditions. When subject to an electric field, the DEs exhibit a buckling instability for small elastocapillary numbers. For larger elastocapillary numbers, the DEs instead exhibit the Rayleigh-plateau instability. The stability analysis demonstrates the critical effect of the electric field in causing the Rayleigh-plateau instability, which cannot be induced solely by surface tension in DE films. Overall, this work demonstrates the effects of geometry, boundary conditions, and multi-physical coupling on a new example of Rayleigh-plateau instability in soft solids.
我们通过有限元模拟和线性稳定性分析，证明了在二维平面应变条件下，电弹性体（DE）薄膜中会出现电弹性毛细瑞利-普兰特尔不稳定性。当受到电场作用时，DE 会在小弹性毛细数下发生屈曲失稳。对于较大的弹性毛细数，DE 会表现出瑞利-普兰特尔不稳定性。稳定性分析表明，电场在引起瑞利-普兰特尔不稳定性方面具有至关重要的影响，而单纯的表面张力无法在 DE 薄膜中引起这种不稳定性。总的来说，这项工作展示了几何形状、边界条件和多物理耦合对软固体中瑞利-普兰特尔不稳定性的新实例的影响。
