Modeling hyperelastic behavior of rubber: A novel invariant‐based and a review of constitutive models

A constitutive phenomenological model completing the Gent‐Thomas concept is carried out to formulate laws governing the hyperelastic behavior of incompressible rubber materials. It is shown that the phenomenological Gent‐Thomas model (1958) and the constrained chain model (1992) give similar precise results at small to moderate deformation. On the other hand, comparisons of the outcome of the proposed model with that of the molecular model from the combined concepts of Flory‐Erman and Boyce‐Arruda (2000), and with those of the phenomenological models of Ogden (1982), Yeoh‐Fleming (1997), Pucci‐Saccomandi (2002) and Beda (2005) are made. Residual inconveniences raised by attractive continuum models in rubber elasticity literature have been successfully overcome. Results from both the statistical and phenomenological mechanics concepts are compared with the data of some useful classical materials (rubbers of Treloar, Rivlin‐Saunders, Pak‐Flory and Yeoh‐Fleming). The results permit one to see salient equivalence of the two theories for a more reliable prediction of stress‐stretch response for all states of any mode of deformation. A complete and exhaustive analysis of the Mooney plot that combines small and very large extension‐compression has been quite essential in assessing the validity of models. A method of identification of material parameters is presented and data of the simple tension suffice for the determination of the parameter values. It is shown that the ordinary identification procedures, such as the usual least squares, a very much used numerical method in materials investigation, can be unsuitable in some cases of hyperelastic modeling. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1713–1732, 2007     

Irregular Behavior of Solutions for Fisher’s Equation

This paper is concerned with the irregular behavior of solutions for Fisher’s equation when initial data do not decay in a regular way at the spatial infinity. In the one-dimensional case, we show the existence of a solution whose profile and average speed are not convergent. In the higher-dimensional case, we show the existence of expanding fronts with arbitrarily prescribed profiles. We also show the existence of irregularly expanding fronts whose profile varies in time. Proofs are based on some estimate of the difference of two distinct solutions and a comparison technique. Dedicated to Professor Pavol Brunovsky on his 70th birthday.     

Two classes of piecewise-linear difference equations with eventual periodicity three

In this paper, we will study two classes of difference equations which are piecewise-linear and of similar forms. We will show that all nontrivial solutions of one equation are eventually periodic with prime period three. We will show this result for one case of the second equation.     

Asymptotic behavior of solutions for a class of predator-prey reaction-diffusion systems with time delays

The aim of this paper is to investigate the asymptotic behavior of solutions for a class of three-species predator-prey reaction-diffusion systems with time delays under homogeneous Neumann boundary condition. Some simple and easily verifiable conditions are given to the rate constants of the reaction functions to ensure the convergence of the time-dependent solution to a constant steady-state solution. The conditions for the convergence are independent of diffusion coefficients and time delays, and the conclusions are directly applicable to the corresponding parabolic-ordinary differential system and to the corresponding system without time delays.     

Global smooth solutions to the multi-dimensional hydrodynamic model for two-carrier plasmas

The existence of global smooth solutions to the multi-dimensional hydrodynamic model for plasmas of electrons and positively charged ions is shown under the assumption that the initial densities are close to a constant. The model consists of the conservation laws for the particle densities and the current densities, coupled to the Poisson equation for the electrostatic potential. Furthermore, it is proved that the particle densities converge exponentially fast to the (constant) steady state. The proof uses a higher-order energy method inspired from extended thermodynamics.     

氩气介质阻挡放电的发光特性

本文使用水电极介质阻挡放电装置,采用光学方法测量了氩气介质阻挡放电的发光特性。发现在驱动电压处于一定的范围内时,放电处于丝极模式,在驱动电压的每半周期内,无论是放电的总光还是单个微通道的放电发光均只有一次脉冲,单个微放电的时间为2μs,而总放电时间为2.4μs,这表明在氩气的丝极模式中,各单丝产生与熄灭的时间极其接近,各个放电丝之间有着很好的时间相关性。最后将本文的结果与空气中介质阻挡放电丝极模式的发光特性相比较,空气放电在每半周内的总光信号由多个脉冲组成,而每一个脉冲对应多个放电丝,因而氩气中各个放电微通道之间的时间相关性远强于空气的情况。     

Insight into chain dimensions in PEO/water solutions

Small‐Angle Neutron Scattering has been performed from poly(ethylene oxide) in deuterated water at temperature ranging from 10 to 80 °C. A simple fitting model was used to obtain a correlation length and a Porod exponent. The correlation length L characterizes the average distance between entanglements in the semidilute region and is proportional to the individual coil sizes in the dilute region. L was found to increase with temperature in the semidilute region but it decreases with temperature in the dilute region. This decrease is the precursor to the single‐chain collapse which applies to very dilute polymer solutions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2196–2200, 2007     

Critical percolation exploration path and SLE 6: a proof of convergence

It was argued by Schramm and Smirnov that the critical site percolation exploration path on the triangular lattice converges in distribution to the trace of chordal SLE ₆. We provide here a detailed proof, which relies on Smirnov’s theorem that crossing probabilities have a conformally invariant scaling limit (given by Cardy’s formula). The version of convergence to SLE ₆ that we prove suffices for the Smirnov–Werner derivation of certain critical percolation crossing exponents and for our analysis of the critical percolation full scaling limit as a process of continuum nonsimple loops. Research of Charles M.Newman was partially supported by the US NSF under grants DMS-01-04278 and DMS-06-06696.