A Molecular-Statistical Basis for the Gent Constitutive Model of Rubber Elasticity

Molecular constitutive models for rubber based on non-Gaussian statistics generally involve the inverse Langevin function. Such models are widely used since they successfully capture the typical strain-hardening at large strains. Limiting chain extensibility constitutive models have also been developed on using phenomenological continuum mechanics approaches. One such model, the Gent model for incompressible isotropic hyperelastic materials, is particularly simple. The strain-energy density in the Gent model depends only on the first invariant I ₁ of the Cauchy–Green strain tensor, is a simple logarithmic function of I ₁ and involves just two material parameters, the shear modulus μ and a parameter J _m which measures a limiting value for I ₁−3 reflecting limiting chain extensibility. In this note, we show that the Gent phenomenological model is a very accurate approximation to a molecular based stretch averaged full-network model involving the inverse Langevin function. It is shown that the Gent model is closely related to that obtained by using a Padè approximant for this function. The constants μ and J _m in the Gent model are given in terms of microscopic properties. Since the Gent model is remarkably simple, and since analytic closed-form solutions to several benchmark boundary-value problems have been obtained recently on using this model, it is thus an attractive alternative to the comparatively complicated molecular models for incompressible rubber involving the inverse Langevin function. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

炭黑填充橡胶材料的修正三链模型和Mullins模型

本文探讨了炭黑颗粒填充橡胶材料的本构模型。考虑到橡胶单个分子链与周围分子网络的约束作用和炭黑颗粒对橡胶的补强作用,提出了一种修正三链模型,用Edwards管模型描述分子链之间的相互作用和约束,采用应变放大因子来考虑炭黑含量的影响。并在修正三链模型的基础上,利用橡胶分子网络重构理论,提出了一种适合表征橡胶Mullins现象的本构模型。通过与实验数据比较分析,修正三链模型可较准确地表征未填充橡胶材料不同变形模式的力学性能和炭黑颗粒填充橡胶材料的单向拉伸力学行为,Mullins模型也可较好地描述橡胶材料的Mullins现象。     

A simple framework for full-network hyperelasticity and anisotropic damage

A formulation of a constitutive behaviour law is proposed for hyperelastic materials, such that damage induced anisotropy can be accounted for continuously. The full-network approach with directional damage is adopted as a starting point. The full-network law with elementary strain energy density based on the inverse Langevin is chosen as a reference law which is cast into the proposed framework. This continuum formalism is then rewritten using spherical harmonics to capture damage directionality. The proposed formalism allows for an efficient (and systematic) expansion of complex non-linear anisotropic constitutive laws. A low order truncated expression of the resulting behaviour is shown to reproduce accurately the stress-strain curves of the exact behaviour laws.     

Stability of the synchronization manifold in nearest neighbor nonidentical van der Pol-like oscillators

We investigate the stability of the synchronization manifold in a ring and in an open-ended chain of nearest neighbor coupled self-sustained systems, each self-sustained system consisting of multi-limit cycle van der Pol oscillators. Such a model represents, for instance, coherent oscillations in biological systems through the case of an enzymatic-substrate reaction with ferroelectric behavior in a brain waves model. The ring and open-ended chain of identical and nonidentical oscillators are considered separately. By using the Master Stability Function approach (for the identical case) and the complex Kuramoto order parameter (for the nonidentical case), we derive the stability boundaries of the synchronized manifold. We have found that synchronization occurs in a system of many coupled modified van der Pol oscillators, and it is stable even in the presence of a spread of parameters.     

(Adiabatic) phase boundaries in a bistable chain with twist and stretch

Mass–spring chains with only extensional degrees of freedom have provided insights into the behavior of crystalline solids, including those capable of phase transitions. Here we add rotational degrees of freedom to the masses in a chain and study the dynamics of phase boundaries across which both the twist and stretch can jump. We solve impact and Riemann problems in the chain by numerical integration of the equations of motion and show that the solutions are analogous to those in a phase transforming rod whose stored energy function depends on both twist and stretch. From the dynamics of phase boundaries in the chain we extract a kinetic relation whose form is familiar from earlier studies involving chains with only extensional degrees of freedom. However, for some combinations of parameters characterizing the energy landscape of our springs we find propagating phase boundaries for which the rate of dissipation, as calculated using isothermal expressions for the driving force, is negative. This suggests that we cannot neglect the energy stored in the oscillations of the masses in the interpretation of the dynamics of mass–spring chains. Keeping this in mind we define a local temperature of our chain and show that it jumps across phase boundaries, but not across sonic waves. Hence, impact problems in our mass–spring chains are analogous to those on continuum thermoelastic bars with Mie–Gruneisen type constitutive laws. At the end of the paper we use our chain to shed some light on experiments involving yarns that couple twist and stretch to perform useful work in response to various stimuli.     

An 8-chain Model for Rubber-like Materials Accounting for Non-affine Chain Deformations and Topological Constraints

Several industrial applications involve rubber and rubber-like materials, and it is important to be able to predict the constitutive response of these materials. In the present paper, a new constitutive model for rubber-like solids is proposed. The model is based on the 8-chain concept introduced by Arruda and Boyce (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 41, 389–412, 1993) to which two new components are added. Real polymer networks do not deform affinely, and in the proposed model this is accounted for by the inclusion of an elastic spring, acting in series with the representative polymer chain. Furthermore, real polymer chains are not completely free to move, which is modelled by imposing a topological constraint on the transverse motions of the representative polymer chain. The model contains five model parameters and these need to be determined on the basis of experimental data. Three experimental studies from the literature were used to assess the proposed model. The model was able to reproduce experimental data performed under conditions of uniaxial tension, generalised plane deformation, and biaxial tension with an excellent accuracy. The strong predictive abilities together with the numerically efficient structure of the model make it suitable for implementation in a finite element context.     

Plane strain bending of strain-stiffening rubber-like rectangular beams

This paper is concerned with investigation of the effects of strain-stiffening for the classical problem of plane strain bending by an end moment of a rectangular beam composed of an incompressible isotropic nonlinearly elastic material. For a variety of specific strain-energy densities that give rise to strain-stiffening in the stress–stretch response, the stresses and resultant moments are obtained explicitly. While such results are well known for classical constitutive models such as the Mooney-Rivlin and neo-Hookean models, our primary focus is on materials that undergo severe strain-stiffening in the stress–stretch response. In particular, we consider in detail two phenomenological constitutive models that reflect limiting chain extensibility at the molecular level and involve constraints on the deformation. The amount of bending that beams composed of such materials can sustain is limited by the constraint. Potential applications of the results to the biomechanics of soft tissues are indicated.     

Orthogonal trajectories for nonlinear equations

Abdelkader developed a method for solving the van der Pol equation numerically. He observed that the orthogonal trajectories of the van der Pol equation satisfy a Riccati equation, the solution to which can be expressed in terms of Bessel functions. In the present paper, all nonlinear equations whose orthogonal trajectories satisfy Riccati or generalized Riccati equations are determined. Further on, another representation of the trajectories of the van der Pol equation is derived. This representation appears to be simpler than Abdelkader's.     

Studying the Laws of the Thermoviscoplastic Deformation of a Solid Under Nonisothermal Complex Loading. Part 2

The studies made at the thermoplasticity department of the S. P. Timoshenko Institute of Mechanics are analyzed. These studies involve experimental validations of the kinematic equation of creep damage and the constitutive equations describing simple thermoviscoelastoplastic loading, with history, of isotropic and transversally isotropic bodies, for elastoviscoplastic deformation of bodies along slightly curved paths, for complex loading along arbitrary paths lying either in a plane arbitrarily oriented in the five-dimensional space of stresses or in one coordinate plane, and for elastoplastic deformation of a body's elements along paths of moderate curvature and small torsion     

Anisotropy of direction-based constitutive models for rubber-like materials

A study of direction-based models for the representation of isotropic and anisotropic hyperelastic behaviour of rubber-like materials is proposed. The interest in such models is sustained by their ability to account for the Mullins effect induced anisotropy. For such a purpose, the directional models should be initially isotropic and representative of the hyperelastic behaviour of rubber-like materials. Various models were defined according to different sets of directions. Models were tested in terms of their initial anisotropy and their ability to reproduce the classic full-network hyperelastic behaviour. Various models were proved to perform very well.     

Corotational rates in constitutive modeling of elastic-plastic deformation

The principal axes technique is used to develop a new hypoelastic constitutive model for an isotropic elastic solid in finite deformation. The new model is shown to produce solutions that are independent of the choice of objective stress rate. In addition, the new model is found to be equivalent to the isotropic finite elastic model; this is essential if both models describe the same material.

The new hypoelastic model is combined with an isotropic flow rule to form an elastic-plastic rate constitutive equation. Use of the principal axes technique ensures that the stress tensor is coaxial with the elastic stretch tensor and that solutions do not depend on the choice of objective stress rate. The flow rule of von Mises and a parabolic hardening law are used to provide an example of application of the new theory. A solution is obtained for the prescribed deformation of simple rectilinear shear of an isotropic elastic and isotropic elastic-plastic material.     

Inhomogeneous shearing of strain-stiffening rubber-like hollow circular cylinders

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of strain-stiffening for the classical problems of axial and azimuthal shearing of a hollow circular cylinder composed of an incompressible isotropic non-linearly elastic material. For some specific strain-energy densities that give rise to strain-stiffening in the stress–stretch response, the stresses and resultant axial forces are obtained in explicit closed form. While such results are well known for classical constitutive models such as the Mooney–Rivlin and neo-Hookean models, our main focus is on materials that undergo severe strain-stiffening in the stress–stretch response. In particular, we consider in detail two phenomenological constitutive models that reflect limiting chain extensibility at the molecular level and involve constraints on the deformation. The amount of shearing that tubes composed of such materials can sustain is limited by the constraint. Numerical results are also obtained for an exponential strain-energy that exhibits a less abrupt strain-stiffening effect. Potential applications of the results to the biomechanics of soft tissues are indicated.     

A micromechanically motivated diffusion-based transient network model and its incorporation into finite rubber viscoelasticity

This paper presents the development of a physical-based constitutive model for the representation of viscous effects in rubber-like materials. The proposed model originates from micromechanically motivated diffusion processes of the highly mobile polymer chains described within the formalism of Brownian motion. Following the basic assumption of accounting for the elastic and the viscous effects in rubber viscoelasticity by their representation through a separate elastic ground network and several viscous subnetworks, respectively, the kinetic theory of rubber elasticity is followed and extended to represent also the viscous contribution in this work. It is assumed that the stretch probability of certain chain segments within an individual viscous subnetwork evolves based on the movement of the chain endpoints described by the Smoluchowski equation extended in this work from non-interacting point particles in a viscous surrounding to flexible polymer chains. An equivalent tensorial representation for this evolution is chosen which allows for the closed form solution of the macroscopic free energy and the macroscopic viscous overstress based on a homogenization over the probability space of the introduced micro-objects. The resulting model of the viscous subnetwork is subsequently combined with the non-affine micro-sphere model and applied in homogeneous and non-homogeneous tests. Finally, the model capacity is outlined based on a comparison with in the literature available experimental data sets.     

A constitutive theory for creep behavior of initially isotropic materials sustaining unilateral damage

The goal of the present work is to modify structure of the creep constitutive equations existing in the literature, and simultaneously to incorporate both damage induced anisotropy and unilateral damage into the constitutive model. The proposed nonlinear-tensor constitutive equation for creep together with the damage evolution equation take into account the secondary and tertiary creep of the initially isotropic materials. The material parameters of the model are determined using basic experiments. It is shown that the creep model is capable of describing available experimental data for the lateral creep responses under uniaxial compression.     

A theory of network alteration for the Mullins effect

This paper reports on the development of a new network alteration theory to describe the Mullins effect. The stress-softening phenomenon that occurs in rubber-like materials during cyclic loading is analysed from a physical point of view. The Mullins effect is considered to be a consequence of the breakage of links inside the material. Both filler-matrix and chain interaction links are involved in the phenomenon. This new alteration theory is implemented by modifying the eight-chains constitutive equation of Arruda and Boyce (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 41 (2) (1993) 389). In the present method the parameters of the eight-chains model, denoted C_R and N in the bibliography, become functions of the maximum chain stretch ratio. The accuracy of the resulting constitutive equation is demonstrated on cyclic uniaxial experiments for both natural rubbers and synthetic elastomers.     

Evaluation of rheological constitutive equations for branched polymers in step shear strain flows

The pom-pom rheological constitutive equation for branched polymers proposed by McLeish and Larson is evaluated in step shear strain flows. Semianalytic expressions for the shear-stress relaxation modulus are derived for both the integral and approximate differential versions of the pom-pom model. Predictions from the thermodynamically motivated differential pompon model of ?ttinger are also examined. Single-mode integral and differential pom-pom models are found to give qualitatively different predictions, the former displays time–strain factorability after the backbone stretch is relaxed, while the latter does not. We also find that the differential pompon model gives quantitatively similar predictions to the integral pom-pom model in step strain flows. Predictions from multimode integral and differential pom-pom models are compared with experimental data on a widely characterized, low-density polyethylene known as 1810H. The experiments strongly support time–strain factorability, while the multimode pom-pom model predictions show deviations from this behavior over the entire range of time that is experimentally accessible.     

On a molecular statistical basis for Ogden's model of rubber elasticity

In this paper, a link is established between the statistical theory of long chain molecules and Ogden's phenomenological model of rubber elasticity. It has been shown by several authors in the past that many invariant-based phenomenological models for rubber-like materials are related to the classical statistical theories. The essential means to reach this reconciliation were methods to account for a non-affine deformation of polymer chains in the network, appropriate techniques to calculate their averaged response, and an approximation of the inverse Langevin function appearing in the non-Gaussian statistical theory. It is shown in this paper that the very same approach, if appropriately implemented, allows to express the strain-energy function of Ogden's material in terms of physical constants characterising the polymer chain and network, together with few additional parameters that account for the non-affine deformation of the polymer chains. Particularly, it is shown that Ogden's model can be represented as a non-affine non-Gaussian 3-chain model with topological constraints.     

On the simultaneous elongation and inflation of a tubular membrane of BKZ fluid

This work considers a viscoelastic fluid membrane which is initially tubular and bonded at each end to a rigid circular disc. The membrane is subjected to prescribed elongational and internal pressure histories causing it to undergo quasi-static axisymmetric deformation. This example is intended to simulate an experiment which has been recently proposed for the determination of constitutive properties for viscoelastic fluids as well as some polymer sheet forming process.The constitutive equation is presumed to be of integral type. The formulation of the problem leads to a basic system of equations which is intended for numerical solution. It has the structure of a two-point boundary value problem for a system ordinary differential equations at each time. The formulation has the advantage that the equations do not have to be rederived if the constitutive equation is changed. A change in the sub-program for computing stress from stretch history is all that is needed.A numerical method of solution is presented. In a numerical example, the material is taken to be polyisobutylene, modeled as a BKZ fluid.