Thermoplastics under voltages are used in diverse applications ranging from insulating cables to organic capacitors. Electromechanical instabilities have been proposed as a mechanism that causes electrical breakdown of thermoplastics. However, existing experiments cannot provide direct observations of the instability process, and existing theories for the instabilities generally assume thermoplastics are mechanically unconstrained. Here, we report in situ observations of electromechanical instabilities in various thermoplastics. A theory is formulated for electromechanical instabilities of thermoplastics under different mechanical constraints. We find that the instabilities generally occur in thermoplastics when temperature is above their glass transition temperatures and electric field reaches a critical value. The critical electric field for the instabilities scales with square root of yield stress of the thermoplastic and depends on its Young's modulus and hardening property.
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1 October 2012
Research Article|
October 05 2012
Electromechanical instabilities of thermoplastics: Theory and in situ observation
Qiming Wang;
Qiming Wang
1Soft Active Materials Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,
Duke University
, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
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Xiaofan Niu;
Xiaofan Niu
2Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
University of California Los Angeles
, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
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Qibing Pei;
Qibing Pei
2Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
University of California Los Angeles
, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
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Michael D. Dickey;
Michael D. Dickey
3Department of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering,
North Carolina State University
, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA
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Xuanhe Zhao
Xuanhe Zhao
a)
1Soft Active Materials Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,
Duke University
, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
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a)
E-mail: xz69@duke.edu.
Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 141911 (2012)
Article history
Received:
August 08 2012
Accepted:
September 21 2012
Citation
Qiming Wang, Xiaofan Niu, Qibing Pei, Michael D. Dickey, Xuanhe Zhao; Electromechanical instabilities of thermoplastics: Theory and in situ observation. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1 October 2012; 101 (14): 141911. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4757867
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