The overall elastic dielectric properties of a suspension of spherical particles in rubber: An exact explicit solution in the small-deformation limit

A solution is constructed for the homogenization problem of the elastic dielectric response of rubber filled with a random isotropic distribution of polydisperse spherical particles in the classical limit of small deformations and moderate electric fields. In this limit, the overall elastic dielectric response is characterized by five (two elastic, one dielectric, and two electrostrictive) effective constants. Explicit formulas are derived for these constants directly in terms of the corresponding constants describing the elastic dielectric response of the underlying rubber and the filler particles, as well as the concentration of particles. By means of comparisons with finite-element simulations, these formulas are shown to also be applicable to isotropic suspensions of monodisperse spherical particles, provided that the particle concentration is sufficiently away from percolation. With the aim of gaining physical insight into the extreme enhancement in electrostrictive properties displayed by emerging dielectric elastomer composites, specific results are examined for the case of suspensions wherein the rubber is incompressible and the particles are mechanically rigid and of infinite permittivity. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.