Modeling of humidity effect on electromechanical properties of viscoelastic dielectric elastomer

As is known, the ambient environment, such as temperature and humidity, may affect the electromechanical properties of dielectric elastomer (DE). In this research, we carry out an analysis to explore the humidity effect on electromechanical performance of a viscoelastic DE, by prescribing the shear moduli, the viscous damping, and the relative dielectric constant of the DE are humidity-dependent values. The dependency relationships between these parameters and the relative humidity are obtained by fitting the presupposed models to experimental data. The humidity effect on static and dynamic electromechanical performances is explored by exhibiting the creeping deformation of both elastic and non-elastic stretch of the viscoelastic DE. Phase paths and Poincare maps are utilized to detect the humidity effect on the stability and periodicity of the nonlinear vibration. Finally, the variation tendency of resonant frequency of the viscoelastic DE system is investigated by continuously varying the relative humidity.