“…9,10 How the material properties affect the signal properties remains unclear, but viscoelastic stretch sensors that were used to measure activities of daily living, subsequent to subjection of HCF, exhibited drift in their output over time potentially due to the retention of a modicum of strain with each cycle. 78 Further, the shape of the peak stress in the stress-life curve suggests that the Rabinowitz-Beardmore model curve 9 may be general enough to apply to all polymers, not just thermoplastics, provided that the model is adapted to account for elastomeric phenomena such as cross-link density, polymer chain debonding, polymer chain rearrangement, and cross-link breakdown. 19,20 In broad terms, nano-to microstructurally small crack incubation may begin with the initial monotonic overload and transition stages, and continue until long crack propagation results in failure of the material 5,9,79 but, as Opp et al 7 have noted, these results may depend on the polymer being tested, and more studies assessing the effect of fatigue on the microstructure of the dielectric elastomer sensors is needed to determine the times needed to incubate and propagate the cracks.…”