A predictive model for the mechanical behavior of particulate composites

Abstract

A method for predicting the stress‐strain and volumetric behavior of particulate composites from constituent properties has been developed for large values of strain. This approach allows a simple model for systems in which damage occurs without resorting to complicated constitutive equations. An energy balance derived from the first law of thermodynamics and the equations of linear elasticity calculates critical strain values at which filler particles will dewet when subjected to uniaxial tension and superimposed pressure. Calculations of critical strains over the entire strain history using reevaluated material properties accounting for the damage yield highly nonlinear stress‐strain and volumetric curves. Experimentally observed dependences on particle size, filler concentration, matrix and filler properties, and superimposed pressure are correctly predicted. The method has no adjustable parameters, and allows several idealized models of the dewetting process to be examined. Comparisons of model predictions to experimental data show good agreement.

Prediction of mechanical properties of composites of HDPE/HA/EAA

“…The results of E, σ B and ε B shown in Table 1 suggest that several parameters affect the mechanical properties of the composites: average particle size and particle size distribution of the filler (Busigin et al, 1983), adhesion of the compatibilizer or coupling agent to the filler (Newman and Meyer, 1980), the wettability of the filler (Inubushi et al, 1988) and the amount of compatibilizer or coupling agent used (Anderson and Farris, 1988). It is also important to note that for small particles, the interface between the filler and the binder plays a significant role (Inubushi et al, 1988;De Debnath and Khastgir, 1987;Jarvela and Jarvela, 1996).…”

Mechanical behaviour of highly filled lignin/polyethylene composites made by catalytic grafting

“…We used the Anderson-Farris model (Anderson and Farris, 1988), which is based on linear elasticity of both the matrix and the particulate and a modified first law of thermodynamics to predict the mechanical behaviour of particulate composites during tensile test. The principle of this model is that work energy is either stored as internal strain energy, used to create new surface area through the debonding process, or a combination of these two phenomena.…”

“…The aim of this work is to produce highly filled lignidpolyethylene composites without sacrificing their mechanical (tensile and impact) properties. The results will be quantitatively analysed using an energy balance micromechanical model for particulate composites (Anderson and Farris, 1988;Wong and Ait-Kadi, 1995).…”

Small deformation viscoelastic response of gum and highly filled elastomers

“…The first mechanism is often used in modeling mechanical response of highly filled elastomers [29,[52][53][54]. Although definitions of the term "dewetting" vary, we assume here that it is the opposite of wetting and, therefore, depends only on viscous flow and surface topography.…”