Taut states of dielectric elastomer membranes

Actuation devices based on dielectric elastomers, typically exhibit various kinds of instability which may determine a decrease of performances and, eventually, the device failure. In this work we focus on wrinkling instabilities for polymer films subjected to an electric field. The main result is the definition of a domain of taut states in the plane of principal stretches strongly dependent on the applied voltage and on the constitutive properties of the polymer film. We discuss these features, crucial in the perspective of electroactive materials design, through simple boundary value problems for Neo-Hookean and Ogden materials. ► Determination of admissible taut domains for electroactive membranes. ► Analysis of the natural strain and taut states for electroactivated domains. ► Stability analysis of electroactive membranes. ► Dependence of admissible domains from the elastic properties of the membrane. ► Insurgence of localization: non-convex energies and non-convex taut domains.