A toughening design for stretchable composite embedded with strain-rate stiffening elastomer. (1st July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhao, Chunyu; Wang, Yu; Ni, Mingyang; Wang, Bochao; Deng, Huaxia; Xuan, Shouhu; Gong, Xinglong
• Is Part Of: Smart materials and structures. Volume 31:Number 7(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07-01
• Subjects: polymer-matrix composite -- stretchable material -- structural design -- fracture toughness -- strain-rate stiffening elastomer (SSE); Smart materials -- Periodicals; Strucural design -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-665X/ac7594
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0964-1726

Abstract

Abstract: Herein, a macroscopic double-network (DN) design for stretchable composite is proposed by embedding strain-rate stiffening elastomer (SSE) reinforced bars into the Ecoflex matrix. Due to the complementarity of mechanical properties between the soft-phase Ecoflex and hard-phase SSE as well as the strong interfacial bond strength, the Ecoflex/SSE composite achieves higher toughness and fatigue threshold than traditional single-network elastomers. Besides, based on the crack propagation characterization, strain-field evolution investigation, and finite element analysis, the fracture toughness of the Ecoflex/SSE composite is proved to be enhanced with the increase of the external strain rates. Interestingly, a sideway crack-arrest morphology is observed above 0.1 s −1, displaying a better anti-crack ability of the Ecoflex/SSE composite at the higher strain rate. As a fundamental research in macroscopic DN composite, the method in this work provides a new idea for the toughening optimization of the strain-rate stiffening material. With the high fracture toughness, fatigue threshold, and flexibility, the Ecoflex/SSE composite has broad application prospects in designing high-performance stretchable elastomers.