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.     

Elastic instabilities for strain-stiffening rubber-like spherical and cylindrical thin shells under inflation

This paper is concerned with investigation of the effects of strain-stiffening on the classical limit point instability that is well-known to occur in the inflation of internally pressurized rubber-like spherical thin shells (balloons) and circular cylindrical thin tubes composed of incompressible isotropic non-linearly elastic materials. For a variety of specific strain-energy densities that give rise to strain-stiffening in the stress-stretch response, the inflation pressure versus stretch relations are given explicitly and the non-monotonic character of the inflation curves is examined. While such results are known for constitutive models that exhibit a gradual stiffening (e.g. exponential and power-law models), our primary focus is on materials that undergo severe strain-stiffening in the stress-stretch response. In particular, we consider two phenomenological constitutive models that reflect limiting chain extensibility at the molecular level. It is shown that for materials with sufficiently low extensibility no limit point instability occurs and so stable inflation is then predicted for such materials. Potential applications of the results to the biomechanics of soft tissues are indicated.     

On the radial oscillations of incompressible, isotropic, elastic and limited elastic thick-walled tubes

The finite amplitude, free radial oscillations of a thick-walled circular cylindrical tube are studied for an arbitrary incompressible, isotropic and homogeneous rubber-like material having limiting molecular chain extensibility. First, based on classical results for hyperelastic tubes, some results for thick-walled Mooney-Rivlin tubes are described graphically in the phase plane. Then the periodicity of the finite amplitude, free oscillations of a general limited elastic, thick-walled tube is studied; and some analytical results for the Gent model are illustrated in several numerical examples. Results for thick-walled Gent tubes are compared with those for corresponding Mooney-Rivlin tubes; and the motion of thin-walled Gent tubes is illustrated in the phase plane. Physical conclusions are presented. The period of small amplitude oscillations of an arbitrary elastic or limited elastic tube is derived from relations obtained by a linearization of a general class of equations of which the tube problem is a special case. Classical results of the linear theory are thereby recovered and compared with results for Mooney-Rivlin and Gent tubes.     

Infinitesimal Stability of the Equilibrium States of?an?Incompressible, Isotropic Elastic Tube Under?Pressure

The infinitesimal stability of the equilibrium states of an arbitrary incompressible, isotropic and homogeneous elastic cylindrical shell in a pure radial expansion under a constant inflation pressure is studied for both thick- and thin-walled shells. The classical criterion of infinitesimal stability yields a general stability theorem relating the frequency and pressure response and reveals that points at which the pressure is stationary define the domain of unstable or neutrally stable states. All results are expressed in terms of a general shear response function, and specific results are provided for the Mooney-Rivlin, Gent and Ogden models, the second having limited extensibility, the last including experimental data. Every static state of a Mooney-Rivlin tube is stable so long as the pressure is less than an asymptotic limit that increases with the thickness. Otherwise, only the Ogden model exhibits static states of instability for all long cylindrical tubes of thickness less than a transitional value above which all static states are infinitesimally stable. A long cylindrical cavity in all three unbounded models is stable for all pressures. All results are illustrated graphically.     

Constitutive Models for Compressible Nonlinearly Elastic Materials with Limiting Chain Extensibility

Constitutive models are proposed for compressible isotropic hyperelastic materials that reflect limiting chain extensibility. These are generalizations of the model proposed by Gent for incompressible materials. The goal is to understand the effects of limiting chain extensibility when the compressibility of polymeric materials is taken into account. The basic homogeneous deformation of simple tension is considered and simple closed-form relations for the deformation characteristics are obtained for slightly compressible materials. An explicit first-order approximation is obtained for the lateral contraction and for the Poisson function in terms of the axial extension which is shown to be valid for each of two specific compressible versions of the Gent model. One of the main results obtained is that the effect of limiting chain extensibility is to stiffen the material relative to the neo-Hookean compressible case. Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000) 74B20, 74G55.     

Strain gradient plasticity analysis of elasto-plastic contact between rough surfaces

From a microscopic point of view, the real contact area between two rough surfaces is the sum of the areas of contact between facing asperities. Since the real contact area is a fraction of the nominal contact area, the real contact pressure is much higher than the nominal contact pressure, which results in plastic deformation of asperities. As plasticity is size dependent at size scales below tens of micrometers, with the general trend of smaller being harder, macroscopic plasticity is not suitable to describe plastic deformation of small asperities and thus fails to capture the real contact area and pressure accurately. Here we adopt conventional mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity (CMSGP) to analyze the contact between a rigid platen and an elasto-plastic solid with a rough surface. Flattening of a single sinusoidal asperity is analyzed first to highlight the difference between CMSGP and J₂ isotropic plasticity. For the rough surface contact, besides CMSGP, pure elastic and J₂ isotropic plasticity analysis is also carried out for comparison. In all cases, the contact area A rises linearly with the applied load, but with a different slope which implies that the mean contact pressures are different. CMSGP produces qualitative changes in the distributions of local contact pressures compared with pure elastic and J₂ isotropic plasticity analysis, furthermore, bounded by the two.     

A new constitutive theory for fiber-reinforced incompressible nonlinearly elastic solids

We consider an incompressible nonlinearly elastic material in which a matrix is reinforced by strong fibers, for example fibers of nylon or carbon aligned in one family of curves in a rubber matrix. Rather than adopting the constraint of fiber inextensibility as has been previously assumed in the literature, here we develop a theory of fiber-reinforced materials based on the less restrictive idea of limiting fiber extensibility. The motivation for such an approach is provided by recent research on limiting chain extensibility models for rubber. Thus the basic idea of the present paper is simple: we adapt the limiting chain extensibility concept to limiting fiber extensibility so that the usual inextensibility constraint traditionally used is replaced by a unilateral constraint. We use a strain-energy density composed with two terms, the first being associated with the isotropic matrix or base material and the second reflecting the transversely isotropic character of the material due to the uniaxial reinforcement introduced by the fibers. We consider a base neo-Hookean model plus a special term that takes into account the limiting extensibility in the fiber direction. Thus our model introduces an additional parameter, namely that associated with limiting extensibility in the fiber direction, over previously investigated models. The aim of this paper is to investigate the mathematical and mechanical feasibility of this new model and to examine the role played by the extensibility parameter. We examine the response of the proposed models in some basic homogeneous deformations and compare this response to those of standard models for fiber reinforced rubber materials. The role of the strain-stiffening of the fibers in the new models is examined. The enhanced stability of the new models is then illustrated by investigation of cavitation instabilities. One of the motivations for the work is to apply the model to the biomechanics of soft tissues and the potential merits of the proposed models for this purpose are briefly discussed.     

Analyses of steady quasistatic crack growth in plane strain tension in elastic-plastic materials with non-isotropic hardening

Steady state crack propagation problems of elastic-plastic materials in Mode I, plane strain under small scale yielding conditions were investigated with the aid of the finite element method. The elastic-perfectly plastic solution shows that elastic unloading wedges subtended by the crack tip in the plastic wake region do exist and that the stress state around the crack tip is similar to the modified Prandtl fan solution. To demonstrate the effects of a vertex on the yield surface, the small strain version of a phenomenological J₂, corner theory of plasticity (Christoffersen, J. and Hutchinson, J. W. J. Mech. Phys. Solids,27, 465 C 1979) with a power law stress strain relation was used to govern the strain hardening of the material. The results are compared with the conventional J₂ incremental plasticity solution. To take account of Bauschinger like effects caused by the stress history near the crack tip, a simple kinematic hardening rule with a bilinear stress strain relation was also studied. The results are again compared with the smooth yield surface isotropic hardening solution for the same stress strain curve. There appears to be more potential for steady state crack growth in the conventional J₂ incremental plasticity material than in the other two plasticity laws considered here if a crack opening displacement fracture criterion is used. However, a fracture criterion dependent on both stress and strain could lead to a contrary prediction.     

Constitutive modeling and the trousers test for fracture of rubber-like materials

The classical constitutive modeling of incompressible hyperelastic materials such as vulcanized rubber involves strain-energy densities that depend on the first two invariants of the strain tensor. The most well-known of these is the Mooney-Rivlin model and its specialization to the neo-Hookean form. While each of these models accurately predicts the mechanical behavior of rubber at moderate stretches, they fail to reflect the severe strain-stiffening and effects of limiting chain extensibility observed in experiments at large stretch. In recent years, several constitutive models that capture the effects of limiting chain extensibility have been proposed. Here we confine attention to two such phenomenological models. The first, proposed by Gent in 1996, depends only on the first invariant and involves just two material parameters. Its mathematical simplicity has facilitated the analytic solution of a wide variety of basic boundary-value problems. A modification of this model that reflects dependence on the second invariant has been proposed recently by Horgan and Saccomandi. Here we discuss the stress response of the Gent and HS models for some homogeneous deformations and apply the results to the fracture of rubber-like materials. Attention is focused on a particular fracture test, namely the trousers test where two legs of a cut specimen are pulled horizontally apart. It is shown that the cut position plays a key role in the fracture analysis, and that the effect of the cut position depends crucially on the constitutive model employed. For stiff rubber-like or biological materials, it is shown that the influence of the cut position is diminished. In fact, for linearly elastic materials, the critical driving force for fracture is independent of the cut position. It is also shown that the limiting chain extensibility models predict finite fracture toughness as the cut position approaches the edge of the specimen whereas classical hyperelastic models predict unbounded toughness in this limit. The results are relevant to the structural integrity of rubber components such as vibration isolators, vehicle tires, earthquake bearings, seals and flexible joints.     

Multiaxial constitutive model accounting for the strength-differential in Inconel 718

The nickel-base alloy Inconel 718 exhibits a strength-differential, that is, a different plastic flow behavior in uniaxial tension and uniaxial compression. A phenomenological viscoplastic model founded on thermodynamics has been extended for material behavior that deviates from classical metal plasticity by including all three stress invariants in the threshold function. The model can predict plastic flow in isotropic materials with or without a flow stress asymmetry as well as with or without pressure dependence. Viscoplastic material parameters have been fit to pure shear, uniaxial tension, and uniaxial compression experimental results at 650°°C. Threshold function material parameters have been fit to the strength-differential. Four classes of threshold functions have been considered and nonproportional loading of hollow tubes, such as shear strain followed by axial strain, has been used to select the most applicable class of threshold function for the multiaxial model as applied to Inconel 718 at 650 °C. These nonproportional load paths containing corners provide a rigorous test of a plasticity model, whether it is time-dependent or not. A J₂J₃ class model, where J₂ and J₃ are the second and third effective deviatoric stress invariants, was found to agree the best with the experimental results.     

Asymptotic crack-tip fields for dynamic crack growth in compressive power-law hardening materials

The effect of material compressibility on the stress and strain fields for a mode-I crack propagating steadily in a power-law hardening material is investigated under plane strain conditions. The plastic deformation of materials is characterized by the J₂ flow theory within the framework of isotropic hardening and infinitesimal displacement gradient. The asymptotic solutions developed by the present authors [Zhu, X.K., Hwang K.C., 2002. Dynamic crack-tip field for tensile cracks propagating in power-law hardening materials. International Journal of Fracture 115, 323–342] for incompressible hardening materials are extended in this work to the compressible hardening materials. The results show that all stresses, strains, and particle velocities in the asymptotic fields are fully continuous and bounded without elastic unloading near the dynamic crack tip. The stress field contains two free parameters σ_eq0 and s₃₃₀ that cannot be determined in the asymptotic analysis, and can be determined from the full-field solutions. For the given values of σ_eq0 and s₃₃₀, all field quantities around the crack tip are determined through numerical integration, and then the effects of the hardening exponent n, the Poisson ratio ν, and the crack growth speed M on the asymptotic fields are studied. The approximate behaviors of the proposed solutions are discussed in the limit of ν → 0.5 or n → ∞.     

Shear layer instabilities in low-density transverse jets

The near-field shear layer instabilities forming in round transverse jets of variable (reduced) densities relative to the crossflow are investigated through gas-phase experiments. Jets composed of helium and nitrogen mixtures are injected from a converging nozzle mounted flush with an injection wall into air crossflow, allowing the jet-to-crossflow density ratio S to be varied between 1.00, the equidensity case, and 0.14, at constant jet Reynolds number Re _j ?=?1,800. Jet-to-crossflow momentum flux ratios J are examined in the range $\infty>J\geq5$ at incremental values of the density ratio S. The results of single-component hotwire measurements in the jet shear layer indicate that a transition to global instability likely occurs as J is brought below approximately 10, and/or as S is brought below approximately 0.45?C0.40. This observation appears to link many previous independent studies of both equidensity transverse jets and low-density free jets, which may become globally unstable under alteration of J and S, respectively. However, the dynamical character of the transition to global instability in the low-density transverse jet displays differences under independent variation of J and S, which may indicate the predominance of different modes.     

On Pressurized Curvilinearly Orthotropic Circular Disk, Cylinder and Sphere Made of Radially Nonuniform Material

A unified analysis is presented for the elastic response of a pressurized cylindrically anisotropic hollow disk under assumed conditions of plane stress, or a hollow cylinder under plane strain conditions, and a spherically anisotropic hollow sphere, made of material which is nonuniform in the radial direction according to the power law relationship. The solution for a cylinder under generalized plane strain is also presented. Two parameters play a prominent role in the analysis: the material nonuniformity parameter m, and the parameter ?? which accounts for the combined effects of material anisotropy, represented by the specified parameters (??, ??, ??), and material nonuniformity, represented by the parameter m. The radial and circumferential stresses are the linear combinations of two power functions of the radial coordinate, whose exponents (n ₁ and n ₂) depend on the parameters m and ??. New light is added to the stress amplification and shielding under combined effects of curvilinear anisotropy and radial nonuniformity. Different loading combinations are considered, including the equal pressure at both boundaries, and the uniform pressure at the inner or the outer boundary. While the stress state for the equal pressure loading is uniform in the case of isotropic uniform material (m=0, ??=1), and for one particular radially nonuniform and anisotropic material, it is strongly nonuniform for a general anisotropic or nonuniform material. If the aspect ratio of the inner and outer radii decreases (small hole in a large disk/cylinder or sphere), the magnitude of the circumferential stress at the inner radius increases for n ₁>0 (stress amplification), and decreases for n ₁<0 (stress shielding). Both can be achieved by various combinations of the material parameters m, ??, ??, and ??. While the stress amplification in the case of a pressurized external boundary occurs readily, it occurs only exceptionally in the case of a pressurized internal boundary. The effects of material parameters on the displacement response are also analyzed. The approximate character of the plane stress solution of a pressurized thin disk is discussed and the results are compared with those obtained by numerical solution of the exact three-dimensional disk model.     

Instabilities of Hyperelastic Fiber Composites: Micromechanical Versus Numerical Analyses

Macroscopic instabilities of fiber reinforced composites undergoing large deformations are studied. Analytical predictions for the onset of instability are determined by application of a new variational estimate for the behavior of hyperelastic composites. The resulting, closed-form expressions, are compared with corresponding predictions of finite element simulations. The simulations are performed with 3-D models of periodic composites with hexagonal unit cell subjected to compression along the fibers as well as to non-aligned compression. Throughout, the analytical predictions for the failures of neo-Hookean and Gent composites are in agreement with the numerical simulations. It is found that the critical stretch ratio for Gent composites is close to the one determined for neo-Hookean composites with similar volume fractions and contrasts between the phases properties. During non-aligned compression the fibers rotate and hence, for some loading directions, the compression along the fibers never reaches the level at which loss of stability may occur.     

On a bound for deformations in terms of Strains in an elastic cylinder

Consider a long thin isotropic elastic cylinder with a self-equilibrated loading on each end face, but which is stress-free on the sides and which has no internal body forces. It is shown that if the displacement gradient is pointwise sufficiently small, then, in any subcylinder of length 1/4a, it is possible to add a rigid body motion such that the L ₂ norm of the resulting displacement gradient can be bounded by a constant times the L ₂ norm of the strain in a subcyclinder of length 2a centered at the same point. The parameter a depends upon the pointwise bound for the displacement gradient (the smaller the bound, the larger a can be) and the constant is independent of the length thickness ratio of the subcylinder.     

Effects of the strain-hardening exponent on two-parameter characterizations of surface-cracks under large-scale yielding

The influence of strain hardening exponent on two-parameter J-Q near tip opening stress field characterization with modified boundary layer formulation and the corresponding validity limits are explored in detail. Finite element simulations of surface cracked plates under uniaxial tension are implemented for loads exceeding net-section yield. The results from this study provide numerical methodology for limit analysis and demonstrate the strong material dependencies of fracture parameterization under large scale yielding. Sufficient strain hardening is shown to be necessary to maintain J-Q predicted fields when plastic flow progresses through the remaining ligament. Lower strain hardening amplifies constraint loss due to stress redistribution in the plastic zone and increases the ratio of tip deformation to J. The onset of plastic collapse is marked by shape change and/or rapid relaxation of tip fields compared to those predicted by MBL solutions and thus defining the limits of J-Q dominance. A radially independent Q-parameter cannot be evaluated for the low strain hardening material at larger deformations within a range where both cleavage and ductile fracture mechanisms are present. The geometric deformation limit of near tip stress field characterization is shown to be directly proportional to the level of stress the material is capable of carrying within the plastic zone. Accounting for the strain hardening of a material provides a more adjusted and less conservative limit methodology compared to those generalized by the yield strength alone. Results from this study are of relevance to establishing testing standards for surface cracked tensile geometries.     

A new variational estimate for the effective response of hyperelastic composites

A variational method for predicting the effective properties of hyperelastic composites in terms of available estimates for “hyperelastic comparison composites” is proposed. In some cases this estimate can produce a lower bound on the effective energy-density function. This nonlinear-comparison variational procedure is specialized to classes of fiber and statistically isotropic composites with the aid of appropriate choices of comparison composites with neo-Hookean phases. The end results are given in terms of closed-form expressions for the effective strain energy-density functions, from which the stress-strain relations can be extracted analytically. Explicit analytical estimates for the overall responses of composites whose phases behaviors are governed by the Gent model are obtained. The results for the fiber composites are compared with corresponding finite element simulations of periodic fiber composites as well as with other available estimates. A fine agreement between the predictions obtained via the various estimates is revealed even in the limit of infinite contrast between the properties of the phases.     

Effect of inclined temperature gradient on thermal instability in an anisotropic porous medium

Effect of anisotropy on thermal instability in a fluid saturated porous medium subjected to an inclined temperature gradient of finite magnitude is analysed using Galerkin technique. Results are compared with those of isotropic and horizontally isotropic cases. It is observed that anisotropic medium is the most stable while either isotropic situation or the horizontally isotropic situation is the most unstable one depending on the horizontal Rayleigh number (R _H ), anisotropy parametersk ₁(=k _y /k _x ), and ?₂(=?_γ/? _z ).     

A mathematical basis for strain-gradient plasticity theory. Part II: Tensorial plastic multiplier

A phenomenological, flow theory version of gradient plasticity for isotropic and anisotropic solids is constructed along the lines of Gudmundson [Gudmundson, P., 2004. A unified treatment of strain-gradient plasticity. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 52, 1379-1406]. Both energetic and dissipative stresses are considered in order to develop a kinematic hardening theory, which in the absence of gradient terms reduces to conventional J₂ flow theory with kinematic hardening. The dissipative stress measures, work-conjugate to plastic strain and its gradient, satisfy a yield condition with associated plastic flow. The theory includes interfacial terms: elastic energy is stored and plastic work is dissipated at internal interfaces, and a yield surface is postulated for the work-conjugate stress quantities at the interface. Uniqueness and extremum principles are constructed for the solution of boundary value problems, for both the rate-dependent and the rate-independent cases. In the absence of strain gradient and interface effects, the minimum principles reduce to the classical extremum principles for a kinematically hardening elasto-plastic solid. A rigid-hardening version of the theory is also stated and the resulting theory gives rise to an extension to the classical limit load theorems. This has particular appeal as previous trial fields for limit load analysis can be used to generate immediately size-dependent bounds on limit loads.     

Finite thermoelasticity with limiting chain extensibility

Rubber-like materials and soft tissues exhibit a significant stiffening or hardening in their stress-strain curves at large strains. Considerable progress has been made recently in the phenomenological modeling of this effect within the context of isotropic hyperelasticity. In particular, constitutive models reflecting limiting chain extensibility at the molecular level have been used to accurately capture strain-hardening. Here we generalize such models to isotropic thermoelasticity. We also show that specific non-polynomial strain-energies for both hyperelastic and thermoelastic materials can be obtained on using a modification of a systematic scheme of Rivlin and Signorini. The Rivlin-Signorini method was based on approximation of the strain-energy density function by polynomials whereas here we use the more general class of rational functions to approximate the material response functions. We then propose a simple generalization to thermoelasticity of a constitutive model for incompressible hyperelastic materials reflecting limiting chain extensibility due to Gent (Rubber Chem. Technol. 69 (1996) 59-61). For this new thermoelastic constitutive model we investigate the inhomogeneous deformation problem of axial shear of a circular cylindrical tube.