An experimental investigation of fracture by cavitation of model elastomeric networks |
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| Authors: | Antonella Cristiano Alba Marcellan Rong Long Chung-Yuen Hui Jan Stolk Costantino Creton |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Polymères et Milieux Dispersés, UMR7615, ESPCI ParisTech-CNRS-UPMC, 10 Rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cédex 05, France;2. Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853;3. DSM Research, P.O. Box 18, 6160 MD Geleen, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | A new methodology to investigate the failure of elastomers in a confined geometry has been developed and applied to model end-linked polyurethane elastomers. The experimental in situ observations show that the elastomers fail by the growth of a single cavity nucleated in the region of maximum hydrostatic stress. Tests carried out at different temperatures for the same elastomer show that the critical stress at which this crack grows is not proportional to the Young's modulus E but depends mainly on the ratio between the mode I fracture energy GIC and E. A reasonable fit of the data can be obtained with a model of cavity expansion by irreversible fracture calculating the energy release rate by finite elements with a strain hardening constitutive equation. Comparison between different elastomers shows that the material containing both entanglements and crosslinks is both tougher in mode I and more resistant to cavitation relative to its elastic modulus. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48:1409–1422, 2010 |
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| Keywords: | elastomers fracture mechanical properties |
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