pull-in instability

Consider a thin dielectric plate with conducting faces: when will it break if a voltage is applied? If it is rigid it will break once its dielectric strength is overcome by the voltage. But what if it is highly stretchable, like the elastomers used for soft actuators, stretchable electronics, or energy harvesters? The precise answer to that question is not known. 

Electromechanical instabilities of thermoplastics: Theory and in situ observation

Qiming Wang, Xiaofan Niu, Qibing Pei, Michael Dickey, Xuanhe Zhao*

Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 141911 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4757867

Mechanical Constraints Enhance Electrical Energy Densities of Soft Dielectrics

Lin Zhang, Qiming Wang and Xuanhe Zhao*

 Applied Physics Letter, In press 

Abstract