A constitutive model for cavitation and cavity growth in rubber-like materials under arbitrary tri-axial loading

In this paper, we attempted to construct a constitutive model to deal with the phenomenon of cavitation and cavity growth in a rubber-like material subjected to an arbitrary tri-axial loading. To this end, we considered a spherical elementary representative volume in a general Rivlin’s incompressible material containing a central spherical cavity. The kinematics proposed by [Hou, H.S., Abeyaratne, R., 1992. Cavitation in elastic and elastic-plastic solids. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 40, 571–722] was adopted in order to construct an approximate but optimal field. In order to establish a suitable constitutive law for this class of materials, we utilized the homogenisation technique that permits us to calculate the average strain energy density of the volume. The cavity growth was considered through a physically realistic failure criterion. Combination of the constitutive law and the failure criterion enables us to describe correctly the global behaviour and the damage evolution of the material under tri-axial loading. It was shown that the present models can efficiently reproduce different stress states, varying from uniaxial to tri-axial tensions, observed in experimentations. Comparison between predicted results and experimental data proves that the proposed model is accurate and physically reasonable. Another advantage is that the proposed model does not need special identification work, the initial Rivlin’s law for the corresponding incompressible material is sufficient to form the new law for the compressible material resulted from cavitation procedure.     

A constitutive model dealing with damage due to cavity growth and the Mullins effect in rubber-like materials under triaxial loading

In this work, we attempted to describe the evolution of damage in rubber-like materials due to the Mullins effect and the cavity growth process. To this end we introduced two distinct internal variables into the constitutive laws; the first one essentially describes the Mullins damage and the second describes the cavity growth. The Mullins effect was considered as a continuous type of damage that can be modelled within the continuum damage theory. The cavity growth, being discontinuous at the microscopic scale, was also modelled by a continuous variable after a homogenization procedure. These analyses allow the establishment of a compressible constitutive law describing the strain-softening phenomena for rubber-like materials. In order to identify the material parameters and to verify the efficiency of the model, we carried out experimental studies involving uniaxial, biaxial, and hydrostatic tensions under monotonic and cyclic loading. Comparison between the model-predicted results and the experimental data shows that the present model can efficiently describe both the Mullins damage and the porosity evolution of rubber-like materials under triaxial monotonic or cyclic loading with a satisfactory accuracy. The proposed concept is simple and easy to apply to engineering calculations.     

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.     

Growth of microcracks under monotonic loading

All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Drilling Technology, Moscow. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 86–99, April, 1988.     

A constitutive model and elastoplastic analysis of structures under cyclic loading

A constitutive model for cyclic plasticity is briefly outlined. Then the model is implemented in a finite element code to predict the response of cyclic loaded structural components such as a double-edge-notched plate, a grove bar and a nozzle in spherical shell. Comparision with results from other theories and experiments shows that the results obtained by using the present model are very satisfactory.The Project Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Analytical solution to a notch tip field in rubber-like materials under tension

Two kinds of elastic laws have been adopted by Gao, 1990 and Gao, 1997 to analyze the deformation fields near a crack tip. One of them contains the response to volume change and shape change; the other contains the response to extension and compression. In this paper the two kinds of constitutive relations are examined by typical large deformation, and the restrictions on constitutive parameters are discussed.     

A nonlinear constitutive model for magnetostrictive materials

A general nonlinear constitutive model is proposed for magnetostrictive materials, based on the important physical fact that a nonlinear part of the elastic strain produced by a pre-stress is related to the magnetic domain rotation or movement and is responsible for the change of the maximum magnetostrictive strain with the pre-stress. To avoid the complicity of determining the tensor function describing the nonlinear elastic strain part, this paper proposes a simplified model by means of linearizing the nonlinear function. For the convenience of engineering applications, the expressions of the 3-D (bulk), 2-D (film) and 1-D (rod) models are, respectively, given for an isotropic material and their applicable ranges are also discussed. By comparison with the experimental data of a Terfenol-D rod, it is found that the proposed model can accurately predict the magnetostrictive strain curves in low, moderate and high magnetic field regions for various compressive pre-stress levels. The numerical simulation further illustrates that, for either magnetostrictive rods or thin films, the proposed model can effectively describe the effects of the pre-stress or residual stress on the magnetization and magnetostrictive strain curves, while none of the known models can capture all of them. Therefore, the proposed model enjoys higher precision and wider applicability than the previous models, especially in the region of the high field.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10132010 and 90405005)     

On the constitutive equations for cyclic plasticity under nonproportional loading

Experimental results on 316 stainless steel, at room temperature, under strain controled axial-torsion loadings, point out a large difference in strengthening between proportional and nonproportional loadings. The maximum difference is produced by 90° out of phase straining. In this paper we discuss the possibility of describing this additional hardening, without any new internal variable, by only modifying the expression for the yield criterion.     

A constitutive equation for filled rubber under cyclic loading

This paper describes experiments and the development of constitutive equations to predict the steady-state response of filled rubber under cyclic loading. An MTS servo-hydraulic machine was used to obtain the dynamic hysteresis curves for a filled rubber compound in uniaxial tension-compression. The material tests were performed with mean strains from −0.1 to 0.1, strain amplitudes ranging from 0.02 to 0.1, and strain rates between 0.01 and 10 s⁻¹. Temporary material set, the Payne effect and rate-dependence were observed from the experimental results. A hyper-viscoelastic constitutive model was developed to characterize the dynamic response of the rubber. A cornerstone of this constitutive modeling was to devise a scheme to evaluate material set and a finite strain, non-linear viscoelastic law from the test data. Predictions of the dynamic hysteresis curves using the proposed constitutive equation were found to be in good agreement with the uniaxial test results.     

Elastic beam on a rigid frictional foundation under monotonic and cyclic loading

An elastic beam resting on a frictional foundation and loaded by the concentrated force or moment applied at its tip is considered. The evolution of slip zones along the beam is discussed for both monotonie and cyclic loading. It is shown that an infinite number of slip zones develop and their propagation satisfies in some cases a self-similarity property. Transient hysteretic effects under cyclic loading are discussed. The closed form analytical solution is presented for the elastic friction model in the case of monotonie loading.     

Combining the logarithmic strain and the full-network model for a better understanding of the hyperelastic behavior of rubber-like materials

Suitably defined invariants of the logarithmic strain are shown to be more adequate than the usual invariants of the left Cauchy-Green tensor to define the type and intensity of a strain applied to hyperelastic rubber-like materials. Coupling these invariants with the macromolecular full-network model clarifies some features of the state of strain dependence of these materials. Finally, comparisons of the model with experimental data illustrate the efficiency of the full-network model and the dependence of the material parameters on the applied loading history.     

A thermomechanical constitutive model for phase transformations in silicon under pressure and contact loading conditions

Most of the technologically relevant abrasive machining techniques for silicon (Si) such as lapping, sawing and grinding are based on the interaction of the silicon surface with a hard particle or asperity. It has been long established that the governing deformation mechanism for Si under such contact loading conditions is stress induced phase transformation. The present work introduces a novel phenomenological constitutive model for phase transformations of silicon set up in a thermomechanical framework of broad applicability. Taking into account experimental observations as well as first principle and molecular dynamics calculations, it captures both the cd-Si → β-Si transition upon compression and the β-Si → a-Si transition upon rapid decompression, which are most relevant for indenter loading. The model was numerically implemented in analogy to incremental plasticity and successfully applied for finite-element (FE) simulations of nanoindentation.     

A variational multiscale constitutive model for nanocrystalline materials

This paper presents a variational multi-scale constitutive model in the finite deformation regime capable of capturing the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline (nc) fcc metals. The nc-material is modeled as a two-phase material consisting of a grain interior phase and a grain boundary effected zone (GBAZ). A rate-independent isotropic porous plasticity model is employed to describe the GBAZ, whereas a crystal-plasticity model which accounts for the transition from partial dislocation to full dislocation mediated plasticity is employed for the grain interior. The constitutive models of both phases are formulated in a small strain framework and extended to finite deformation by use of logarithmic and exponential mappings. Assuming the rule of mixtures, the overall behavior of a given grain is obtained via volume averaging. The scale transition from a single grain to a polycrystal is achieved by Taylor-type homogenization where a log-normal grain size distribution is assumed. It is shown that the proposed model is able to capture the inverse Hall-Petch effect, i.e., loss of strength with grain size refinement. Finally, the predictive capability of the model is validated against experimental results on nanocrystalline copper and nickel.     

A constitutive model for magnetostrictive and piezoelectric materials

This paper is concerned with a macroscopic nonlinear constitutive law for magnetostrictive alloys and ferroelectric ceramics. It accounts for the hysteresis effects which occur in the considered class of materials. The uniaxial model is thermodynamically motivated and based on the definition of a specific free energy function and a switching criterion. Furthermore, an additive split of the strains and the magnetic or electric field strength into a reversible and an irreversible part is suggested. Analog to plasticity, the irreversible quantities serve as internal variables. A one-to-one-relation between the two internal variables provides conservation of volume for the irreversible strains. The material model is able to approximate the ferromagnetic or ferroelectric hysteresis curves and the related butterfly hysteresis curves. Furthermore, an extended approach for ferrimagnetic behavior which occurs in magnetostrictive materials is presented. A main aspect of the constitutive model is its numerical treatment. The finite element method is employed to solve the coupled field problem. Here the usage of the irreversible field strength permits the application of algorithms of computational inelasticity. The algorithmic consistent tangent moduli are developed in closed form. Hence, quadratic convergence in the iterative solution scheme of governing balance equations is obtained.     

Quasi-micromechanical constitutive theory for brittle damaged materials under tension

One of fundamental but difficult problems in damage mechanics is the formulation of the effective constitutive relation of microcrack-weakened brittle or quasi-brittle materials under complex loading, especially when microcrack interaction is taken into account. The combination of phenomenological and micromechanical damage mechanics is a promising approach to constructing an applicable damage model with a firm physical foundation. In this paper, a quasi-micromechanical model is presented for simulating the constitutive response of microcrack-weakened materials under complex loading. The microcracking damage is characterized in terms of the orientation domain of microcrack growth (DMG) as well as a scalar microcrack density parameter. The DMG describes the complex damage and its evolution associated with microcrack growth, while the scalar microcrack density factor defining the isotropic magnitude of damage yields an easy calculation of the effects of microcrack interaction on effective elastic moduli. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19891180).     

A crack-mechanics based model for damage and plasticity of brittle materials under dynamic loading

A rate-dependent model for damage and plastic deformation of brittle materials under dynamic loading is presented. The model improves upon a recently developed micromechanical damage model (Zuo et al., 2006) by incorporating plastic deformation of the material. The distribution of the microcracks in the material is assumed to remain isotropic, and the damage evolution is through the growth of the average crack size. Plasticity is considered through an additive decomposition of the total strain rate, and a rate-independent, von Mises model is used. The model was applied to simulate the response of a model material (SiC) under uniaxial strain loading. To further examine the behavior of the model, cyclic loading and large-strain compressive loading were considered. Numerical results of the model predictions are presented, and comparisons with those from a previous model are provided.     

Constitutive model for a semi-crystalline polymer under dynamic loading

This paper deals with a viscoelastic–viscoplastic model for semi-crystalline polymers in crash applications. A polymer behaviour model is implemented in the commercial PAM CRASH© code thanks to a user material card. Global variables (load, displacement) and local variables (strain) are validated on flat and notched tensile specimens by comparing the numerical responses with data obtained by digital image correlation.