Numerical-graphical method for determining characteristics of damaged viscoelastic materials

A method for determining the material functions of nonlinear endochronic theory of aging viscoelastic materials (NETAVEM) with preliminary mechanical damage was developed. The proposed method is based on an analysis of the differences between two graphs of the stress dependence on time obtained in tension with the same constant speed of two specimens made of the same filled polymer material. One of the specimens was not preloaded, and the other was preloaded. The reduced time 1] contained in the NETAVEM constitutive relations and its dependence on the actual time are determined by the distances from the stress axis to two points corresponding to the same stress value and lying on the graphs for the damaged and undamaged specimens. The relaxation kernel is determined in the experiment with the undamaged specimen. These two material functions and the curve obtained for the damaged specimen are used to obtain the NETAVEM aging function, and then the function of viscosity can be calculated. As a result, all characteristics of the damaged material become known, and the strength of structures made of this material can be calculated.