Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMCs): Smart Multi-Functional Materials and Artificial Muscles, Volume 2
Chapter 20: A Continuum Multiphysics Theory for Electroactive Polymers and Ionic Polymer Metal Composites
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Published:19 Nov 2015
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Special Collection: 2015 ebook collection
John G. Michopoulos, Mohsen Shahinpoor, Athanasios Iliopoulos, 2015. "A Continuum Multiphysics Theory for Electroactive Polymers and Ionic Polymer Metal Composites", Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMCs): Smart Multi-Functional Materials and Artificial Muscles, Volume 2, Mohsen Shahinpoor, Mohsen Shahinpoor
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The existence of a theoretical continuum multiphysics infrastructure for modeling the behavior of electroactive polymers and ionic polymer metal composites is essential for the design, material qualification and material certification for sensing, actuation and energy harvesting applications. The present chapter summarizes a continuum multiphysics methodology for modeling the behavior of arbitrarily shaped ionic continua under multi-field influence at the macro-length scale. The analytical implementation of this methodology addresses the generation of both the constitutive and the field evolution equations by appropriate use of continuum mechanics, irreversible thermodynamics and electrodynamics. We apply this methodology for the case of electric multicomponent anisotropic hygrothermoelasticity that generates a constitutive model and the associated field equations for a large class of materials capable of electromechanical actuation and sensing. A specialization of this theory for isotropic and bi-component electrohygrothermoelastic materials is provided in terms of the relevant field equations.