01169nas a2200133   4500008004100000245007700041210006900118260003400187520069100221100002700912700002300939700002200962856005100984       2014                        en  d00aSwelling dynamics of a thin elastomeric sheet under uniaxial pre-stretch0 aSwelling dynamics of a thin elastomeric sheet under uniaxial pre  bAmerican Institute of Physics3 aIt has been demonstrated experimentally that pre-stretch affects the swelling of an elastomeric membrane when it is exposed to a solvent. We study theoretically the one-dimensional swelling of a pre-stretched thin elastomeric sheet, bonded to an impermeable rigid substrate, to quantify the influence of pre-stretch. We show that the solvent uptake increases when pre-stretch increases, both at equilibrium and during the swelling transient, where it exhibits two different scaling regimes. The coupling between the solvent uptake and pre-stretch may be practically exploited to design soft actuators where the swelling-induced deformations can be controlled by varying the pre-stretch.1 aLucantonio, Alessandro1 aNardinocchi, Paola1 aStone, Howard, A.  uhttp://urania.sissa.it/xmlui/handle/1963/35113