Experimental observation on multiaxial ratchetting of polycarbonate polymer at room temperature

Multiaxial stress-controlled and mixed stress-strain-controlled cyclic tests were carried out to investigate the multiaxial ratchetting of polycarbonate (PC) polymer at room temperature. The effects of applied mean stress, stress amplitude, loading rate, loading path and loading history on the ratchetting are discussed. The results show that the multiaxial ratchetting mainly occurs in the direction of non-zero mean stress. In the multiaxial stress-controlled cases, the ratchetting strain increases with increasing mean stress and stress amplitude and decreasing stress rate. Different values of ratchetting strain were obtained in the multiaxial cyclic tests with seven different loading paths, and prior cyclic loading with higher stress level resulted in decreased ratchetting in the subsequent cyclic loading with lower stress level. In the multiaxial mixed stress-strain-controlled tests, the ratchetting increased with increasing axial (or equivalent shear) stress and torsional-angle (or axial-displacement) amplitude and decreasing applied deformation rate.     

Effects of crosslink density on the behavior of VHB 4910 dielectric elastomer

Interpenetration of dielectric elastomers with fillers is an effective technique to improve requisite properties for voltage induced electromechanical performance. However, the requirement that the rigid frame has to maintain its pre-strained state, and time/temperature related phenomenon like stress relaxation/concentration, strain-induced crystallization and void propagation etc., limits this technology. To overcome these limitations, thermochemical and UV irradiation techniques of polymerization are used to modify the macromolecular structures of VHB 4910 elastomer with crosslink monomers. Both the methods are compared in terms of the modification in surface and molecular structure through optical microscope and infrared spectroscopy, respectively. Thermochemically modified samples are found flawless with regular surface reformation; crosslink density is evaluated and its influences on hysteresis, dielectric constant and material degradation at elevated temperature are characterized. Results from this study may contribute towards the complete understanding of space density for inclusion of filler, used for material development with user-defined properties.     

Effect of temperature on the rupture behavior of highly stretchable acrylic elastomer

Dielectric elastomer has been recently explored extensively to make diverse soft actuators and energy harvesting devices. The lack of study on the rupture behavior under the influence of temperature hinders further applications where heat generation and accumulation are unavoidable. In this paper, an experimental study has been carried out to investigate the effect of temperature on the rupture behavior of acrylic dielectric elastomer. By using VHB 4910 films with and without an initial crack, the fracture energy at different temperature and stretch rate is measured by pure shear test. The storage modulus and phase angle have been investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The images of defects and rupture surface are provided by scanning electron microscope (SEM). It is found that the stretch at rupture is insensitive to the temperature for both pristine and precut samples. In addition, the maximum nominal stress and fracture energy linearly decrease with environmental temperature, especially at high stretch rate. Furthermore, we measure the stretch at rupture for rectangular strips with a single edge-notch under uniaxial tension and compare them with the theoretical prediction using nonlinear fracture mechanics based on the measured fracture energy. The results obtained in this paper will give a reference to the engineering design and applications of dielectric elastomer, especially for those working at different temperatures.     

Tension behaviour of HNBR and FKM elastomers for a wide range of temperatures

This article presents uniaxial tension tests of three different elastomer compounds commonly applied as seal materials in the oil and gas industry. The tests were performed at five different temperatures, ranging from −20 to 150 °C. Optical measurements were used to ensure high quality stress–strain data. The material samples were exposed to a cyclic deformation history, enabling the viscoelastic behaviour to be explored. A considerable effect of temperature changes was found, with a pronounced increase of stiffness and viscosity for the lowest temperatures. A dip in the stress–strain curve was seen for one of the hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubbers tested at low temperatures. Matrix-particle debonding simulations qualitatively described this stress dip. For the tests performed at the highest temperatures, a considerable number encountered material failure.     

Fading memory of deformation history in carbon black-filled thermoplastic elastomers

Observations are reported on a carbon black–reinforced thermoplastic elastomer in multistep uniaxial tensile cyclic tests with a mixed deformation program (oscillations between maximum elongation ratios k_max and various minimum stresses σ_min with k_max monotonically increasing with number of cycles n). Fading memory of deformation history is demonstrated: when specimens are subjected to two loading programs that differ along the first n −1 cycles of deformation and coincide afterwards, their stress–strain diagrams become identical starting from the nth cycle. A constitutive model is developed in cyclic viscoplasticity with finite deformations, and its adjustable parameters are found by fitting the observations. Ability of the stress–strain relations to describe the fading memory phenomenon and to predict the mechanical response of polymer composites in multi-step cyclic tests with large strains is confirmed by numerical simulation.     

含钪、铒的Al-0.8%Mg-0.6%Si合金的低周疲劳行为

对固溶+人工时效(T6)处理的挤压变形Al-0.8%Mg-0.6%Si,Al-0.8%Mg-0.6%Si-0.2%Sc和Al-0.8%Mg-0.6%Si-0.3%Er合金进行了低周疲劳试验,探讨了合金的低周疲劳变形和断裂行为.结果表明,低周疲劳变形期间,含Sc,Er合金可以呈现循环应变硬化、循环应变软化和循环稳定;添加稀土元素Sc可提高合金的循环变形抗力,且含0.2%Sc的合金在疲劳变形期间发生双系滑移;含Sc,Er合金的弹性应变幅和塑性应变幅与断裂时的载荷反向周次的关系可分别用Basquin和Coffin-Manson公式来描述,其中Al-0.8%Mg-0.6%Si-0.2%Sc合金的塑性应变幅与断裂时的载荷反向周次之间呈双线性关系;含Sc,Er合金的疲劳裂纹均是以穿晶方式萌生于试样表面,并以穿晶方式扩展.     

Stretchable and transparent hydrogels as soft conductors for dielectric elastomer actuators

A soft ionic conductor can serve as an artificial nerve in an artificial muscle. A polyacrylamide hydrogel is synthesized containing a hygroscopic salt, lithium chloride. Two layers of the hydrogel are used as ionic conductors to sandwich a dielectric elastomer and fabricate a highly stretchable and transparent actuator. When the two layers of the hydrogels are subject to a voltage, the actuator reduces its thickness and expands. An areal strain of 134% is demonstrated. The voltage‐strain curves are calculated by using a model that accounts for the elastic constraint of the hydrogel and the inhomogeneous deformation of the actuator. For actuators fabricated with the hydrogel of various thicknesses and with the dielectric elastomer of various prestretches, excellent agreements are found between experimental data and theoretical predictions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014 , 52, 1055–1060     

Mechanisms of large actuation strain in dielectric elastomers

Subject to a voltage, a dielectric elastomer (DE) deforms. Voltage‐induced strains of above 100% have been observed when DEs are prestretched, and for DEs of certain network structures. Understanding mechanisms of large actuation strains is an active area of research. We propose that the voltage‐stretch response of DEs may be modified by prestretch, or by using polymers with “short” chains. This modification results in suppression or elimination of electromechanical instability, leading to large actuation strains. We propose a method to select and design a DE, such that the actuation strain is maximized. The theoretical predictions agree well with existing experimental data. The theory may contribute to the development of DEs with exceptional performance. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011     

Synthesizing a new dielectric elastomer exhibiting large actuation strain and suppressed electromechanical instability without prestretching

Prestrain provides high actuation performance in dielectric elastomers (DEs) but increases the bulk, mass, and fatigue of the resulting actuators. Based on our experiments on prestrain‐locked interpenetrating polymer films and the model developed by Zhao and Suo, materials with a certain stress–strain relationship should be capable of high strain without prestrain by suppressing electromechanical instability (EMI). Here, we report the synthesis of an acrylic elastomer capable of achieving high actuation performance without prestrain. DE films were directly fabricated by ultraviolet curing of precursors comprising a mixture of acrylate comonomers. Varying the amount of crosslinker comonomer in the precursor allowed us to tune the stress–strain relationship and completely suppress EMI while maintaining high strain performance. Addition of plasticizing agents increased strain sensitivity. The result is a new DE, synthesized from scratch, capable of high actuation strain (>100%), high energy density (>1 J g^?1), and good temperature and frequency response without requiring prestretching. The material can be fabricated using conventional coating techniques and the process can allow for high volume throughput of stacked DE actuators. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2013     

An investigation of the yield and postyield behavior and corresponding structure of poly(methyl methacrylate)

The mechanical behavior of glassy polymers is time and temperature dependent as evidenced by their viscoelastic and viscoplastic response to loading. The behavior is also known to depend strongly on the prior history of the material, changing with time and temperature without chemical intervention. In this investigation, we examine the effects of this process of physical aging on the yield and postyield behavior and corresponding evolution in the structural state of glassy polymers. This has been achieved through a systematic program of uniaxial, isothermal, constant strain–rate tests on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) specimens of different thermal histories and by performing positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) measurements prior to and after mechanical deformation. PALS is an indicator of the free volume content, probing size and density of free volume sites and can be considered to be a measurement of structural state. The results of the mechanical tests show that aging acts to increase both the initial yield stress and the amount of strain softening which occurs subsequent to yield. Moreover, the amount of strain softening was found to be independent of strain rate indicating that softening is related to an evolution in structure as opposed to deformation kinetics. Furthermore, after sufficient inelastic straining, the initial thermal history is completely erased as evidenced by identical values of flow stress following strain softening, for both annealed and quenched polymer. Strong confirmation of the structural state or free volume related nature of the strain softening process is obtained by our companion PALS measurements. PALS detects an increase in the size of free volume sites following inelastic deformation and finds the initially annealed and quenched specimens to posses the same post-deformation distribution. The size of sites is found to evolve steadily with inelastic strain until it attains a steady-state value. This evolution of free volume with strain follows the observed softening of the flow stress to a steady-state value. These results provide experimental evidence that an increase in free volume with inelastic straining accompanies the strain softening phenomenon in glassy polymers and that strain softening is indeed a de-aging process. Based on our experimental results a mechanistically based constitutive model has been formulated to describe the effects of thermal history on the yield and postyield deformation behavior of glassy polymers up to moderate strains. The model is found to successfully capture the effects of physical aging, strain softening, strain rate, and temperature on the inelastic behavior of glassy polymers when compared with experimental results. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Electro-mechanical instability modelling in elastomeric actuators: A second law of thermodynamics-based approach

ABSTRACT

In the present paper, we report an alternative method to model the electro-mechanical instability (EMI) phenomenon of the dielectric elastomeric (DE) actuators. The proposed method is based on a classical continuum mechanics approach followed by the second law of thermodynamics. We first formulate an electro-elastic deformation of a continua through an amended energy function followed by the theory of electro-elasticity. The amended energy function accounts the electrostriction phenomenon for a class of an incompressible isotropic electro-elastic material. In addition, the proposed energy function also overcomes the hurdle of the physical interpretation of the Maxwell stress tensor in large deformation. We then consider that the DE actuators are subjected to a pre-stretching effect through a simple loading with an applied electrical voltage across the thickness. Further, we develop the analytical EMI models for the DE actuators through a new amended energy function. Finally, the obtained EMI models through the proposed method are compared with an existing energy-based method, and also validated with the experimental data existing in the literature. The comparison and validation indicate that the proposed classical method is more realistic as compared to the existing one.     

Spontaneous deformation of main-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers composed of smectic polyesters

We observe the spontaneous shape change of a uniaxially deformed liquid-crystalline elastomer composed of smectic main-chain liquid-crystalline polyesters in a cyclic heating–cooling process. Although the elastomer contracts by about 115% on heating up to the isotropic phase, the sample length recovers by 55% on cooling to room temperature in the first heating–cooling process, and the elastomer exhibits an almost complete reversible deformation in the second heating–cooling process. By a comparison of the results of sample observation with those of X-ray analysis, we recognise that the strain λ was linearly coupled with the orientational order parameter S. In addition, the results of the X-ray analysis imply that a cybotactic nematic state, in which smectic clusters lie scattered in a nematic-like matrix, emerges after exposure to the isotropic phase.     

Fatigue fracture of a highly stretchable acrylic elastomer

Dielectric elastomer has been extensively explored in various applications as soft active material. In most applications, dielectric elastomer is subjected to cyclic loading-unloading condition. As a result, a small initial defect in a dielectric elastomer may finally grow to a critical size to induce catastrophic rupture. In this article, we carried out an experimental study of the crack growth in an acrylic dielectric elastomer under cyclic loading-unloading. Pure-shear test specimens were used to measure the relationship between crack growth rate and energy release rate. Such relationship can be simply fit to a power-law. We further used the measured power-law to successfully predict the fatigue lifetime of the acrylic elastomer with an edge crack and subject to simple extension cyclic loading-unloading test.     

Cross deformation and stress relaxation of biaxially oriented polystyrene films

When a biaxially oriented polystyrene film was stretched along one direction and subsequently stretched along the perpendicular direction, the film showed enhanced ductility with pronounced yield softening and extended strain hardening. In the forward deformation, at least two types of shear bands were observed. The bands at the early stages of yielding did not seem to contribute to the reduction of thickness. They were approximately 200 μm thick and had an intersection angle of approximately 120°. The bands developed in the later stages contributed to the thickness reduction. These bands were smaller and possessed an intersection of approximately 90°. In the cross deformation, new shear bands developed that were likely related to the reverse shearing of the existing bands. Stress relaxation showed a power‐law relationship between the stress rate and relaxation time. The internal stress of the cross deformation was significantly (ca. 3 times) lower than that of the forward deformation at the same strain. The enhancement in ductility may be attributed to the lowering of internal stress during the cross deformation. The internal stress increased with the applied stress and strain. Fracture occurred when the internal stress reached a certain level, about 57–68 MPa for deformation along both directions and approximately 44–47% of the final applied stress. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 687–700, 2003     

On the cyclic deformation behavior,fracture properties and cytotoxicity of silicone-based elastomers for biomedical applications

This paper provides results from a comprehensive experimental characterization on five silicone-based elastomers used as substrates for mechanobiological studies or in soft biomedical implants. A previous paper was recently published which focused on the large strain deformation behavior of these materials. This second part analyzes their reliability for biomedical applications in terms of changes of deformation behavior with the history of loading (long term cyclic behavior), ability to resist loads in the presence of defects (fracture properties), and cytotoxicity. For the latter, all materials are confirmed to be non-toxic which is a prerequisite for their use in mechanobiological studies or as part of implants and biomedical devices. The response in long term uniaxial tests over 220′000 cycles was characterized and the results indicate general stability of the mechanical response with, for some conditions, softening mechanisms active mainly in the initial phase of the test (50′000 cycles). A critical aspect of elastomer performance and their suitability for application in biomedical devices concerns their fracture properties. The tearing energy varies in a range from brittle (with approximately 80 J/m² for PDMS Sylgard 184) to tough (with approximately 900 J/m² for SMI G/G 0.020).     

Self‐recovery and fatigue of double‐network gels with permanent and reversible bonds

Double‐network (DN) gels subjected to cyclic deformation (stretching up to a fixed strain followed by retraction down to the zero stress) demonstrate a monotonic decrease in strain with time (self‐recovery). Observations show that the duration of total recovery varies in a wide interval (from a few minutes to several days depending on composition of the gel), and this time is strongly affected by deformation history. A model is developed for the kinetics of self‐recovery. Its ability to describe stress–strain diagrams in cyclic tests with various periods of recovery is confirmed by comparison with observations on several DN gels. Numerical simulation reveals pronounced enhancement of fatigue resistance in multi‐cycle tests with stress‐ and strain‐controlled programs when subsequent cycles of deformation are interrupted by intervals of recovery. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 438–453     

Measuring true electromechanical strain of electroactive thermoplastic elastomer gels using synchrotron SAXS

The true electric actuation thickness strain of poly (styrene‐b‐ethylbutylene‐b‐styrene) (SEBS) gel was measured using an in situ synchrotron SAXS. The thermoplastic elastomer SEBS gel was microphase‐separated to form a disordered styrene micelle nanostructure in an oil‐swollen ethylbutylene matrix. The SEBS gel showed reversible cyclic load–unload compression behavior without permanent residual strain. The electromechanical strain of the SEBS gel with carbon paste electrodes could be evaluated by means of a nanostructure dimensional change traced by using the in situ synchrotron SAXS during actuation. The strain measured with SAXS was compared with the strain measured using conventional laser displacement sensor systems. The optical laser sensor method was likely to overestimate the thickness strain due to the bending movement of the dielectric elastomer. To our knowledge, the thickness strain value measured by the synchrotron SAXS is the closest to the true strain ever measured in the field of dielectric elastomer studies, because the nanostructure dimensional change depends on the thickness dimension change, not on the translational movement like the bending motion. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2010     

多场耦合作用下光热敏感介电凝胶的力电耦合变形行为

介电弹性体在电场作用下将产生形变,为获得高的变形能,需对介电弹性体施以较强的电场,而强电场的施加可能诱发力电耦合失稳导致失效。针对光热敏感介电凝胶力电耦合变形行为,基于热力学和连续介质力学理论建立力电耦合变形模型,分析了光强、温度以及预拉伸对光热敏感介电凝胶力电耦合变形行为的影响,结果表明:无预拉伸时,随着电场强度的增大,光热敏感介电凝胶最终发生力电失稳,光强越小、温度越低发生力电失稳时的临界电压越高;预拉伸可显著改善力电稳定性,施加等双轴预拉伸后,凝胶厚度方向的伸长率显著变小,电场强度随电位移增大而线性增大,未出现力电失稳现象。     

Parameters influencing fatigue life prediction of dielectric elastomer generators

For energy scavenging applications, estimating fatigue life of dielectric elastomer is as crucial as computing the amount of scavenged energy. Crack growth approach, well known in rubber industry, is a fast methodology to estimate fatigue life. We adapt this methodology to dielectric silicone elastomers (Elastosil 2030) and we focus in particular on the factors influencing this estimation such as sample geometry, tearing energy, power law. We underline that the variation in tearing energy estimation induces a small dispersion on the fatigue life estimation whereas power law identification is the crucial and critical parameter. Finally, we define an index of performance based on fatigue life and scavenged energy density, and we compare two materials (acrylic 3MVHB4910 and silicone Elastosil 2030).     

A test procedure for separating viscous recovery and accumulated unrecoverable deformation of polymer under cyclic loading

After uniaxial tension and creep tests, asymmetric stress cycle tests have been performed on two polycarbonate (PC) materials with different molecular weights at room temperature. The effects of stress level (mean stress and stress amplitude) and time-dependent factors (stress rate and peak hold time) on ratcheting were studied. To separate the contributions of viscous recovery and accumulated unrecoverable deformation, a new test procedure has been proposed and performed on polycarbonate. The results demonstrate that the proposed test procedure is suitable for separating the viscous recovery and accumulated unrecoverable deformation. The study clearly shows that, for PC, both the viscous recovery and the accumulated unrecoverable deformation cannot be neglected for cyclic loading; previous viscous deformation has significant influence on the following cyclic accumulated deformation.