scholarly journals Coarse-Grained Lattice Modeling and Monte Carlo Simulations of Stress Relaxation in Strain-Induced Crystallization of Rubbers

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1267
Author(s):  
Vladislav Egorov ◽  
Hiroshi Koibuchi ◽  
Chrystelle Bernard ◽  
Jean-Marc Chenal ◽  
Gildas Diguet ◽  
...  

Two-dimensional triangulated surface models for membranes and their three-dimensional (3D) extensions are proposed and studied to understand the strain-induced crystallization (SIC) of rubbers. It is well known that SIC is an origin of stress relaxation, which appears as a plateau in the intermediate strain region of stress–strain curves. However, this SIC is very hard to implement in models because SIC is directly connected to a solid state, which is mechanically very different from the amorphous state. In this paper, we show that the crystalline state can be quite simply implemented in the Gaussian elastic bond model, which is a straightforward extension of the Gaussian chain model for polymers, by replacing bonds with rigid bodies or eliminating bonds. We find that the results of Monte Carlo simulations for stress–strain curves are in good agreement with the reported experimental data of large strains of up to 1200%. This approach allows us to intuitively understand the stress relaxation caused by SIC.

Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Koibuchi ◽  
Chrystelle Bernard ◽  
Jean-Marc Chenal ◽  
Gildas Diguet ◽  
Gael Sebald ◽  
...  

Configurations of the polymer state in rubbers, such as so-called isotropic (random) and anisotropic (almost aligned) states, are symmetric/asymmetric under space rotations. In this paper, we present numerical data obtained by Monte Carlo simulations of a model for rubber formulations to compare these predictions with the reported experimental stress–strain curves. The model is defined by extending the two-dimensional surface model of Helfrich–Polyakov based on the Finsler geometry description. In the Finsler geometry model, the directional degree of freedom σ → of the polymers and the polymer position r are assumed to be the dynamical variables, and these two variables play an important role in the modeling of rubber elasticity. We find that the simulated stresses τ sim are in good agreement with the reported experimental stresses τ exp for large strains of up to 1200 % . It should be emphasized that the stress–strain curves are directly calculated from the Finsler geometry model Hamiltonian and its partition function, and this technique is in sharp contrast to the standard technique in which affine deformation is assumed. It is also shown that the obtained results are qualitatively consistent with the experimental data as influenced by strain-induced crystallization and the presence of fillers, though the real strain-induced crystallization is a time-dependent phenomenon in general.


2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 710-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazunori Kamio ◽  
Krzysztof Moorthi ◽  
Doros N. Theodorou

2003 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarek M. Madkour ◽  
Rasha A. Azzam

Abstract Stress-strain measurements were performed on dry and swollen natural rubber vulcanizates prepared using both sulfur as the crosslinking agent and aromatic-based bound antioxidants acting as a second crosslinking agent. The aromatic-based antioxidants were synthesized and analyzed spectroscopically in order to relate the final behavior of the vulcanizates to the nature of the crosslink characteristics. The anomalous upturn in the modulus values of these networks in response to the imposed stress was shown to persist in the dry as well as the swollen state. Since the swollen elastomeric chains cannot undergo a strain-induced crystallization, the abnormal upturns in the modulus values in an absence of a filler were explained on the basis of the limited extensibility of the short chains of networks prepared using two different crosslinking agents in line with earlier modeling predictions. Remarkably, the swelling experiments revealed the increase in the crosslink density of the networks in the early stages of the thermal oxidative degradation procedure indicating a post-cure of the chemically bound antioxidants to the elastomeric chains, which incidentally corresponds to a maximum in the modulus values of the networks. The rheological and other mechanical properties such as the hardness were shown not to have been affected as a result of the incorporation of the chemically bound antioxidants.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 669-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongjuan Liu ◽  
Luyao Yang ◽  
Xiaoyan Qiu ◽  
Haitao Wu ◽  
Yongqiang Zhang ◽  
...  

Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Polanowski ◽  
Andrzej Sikorski

Monodisperse polymer brushes were studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. A coarse-grained model of a polymer brush was designed in order and the Cooperative Motion Algorithm was employed to...


2017 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 728-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Watcharin Sainumsai ◽  
Shigeyuki Toki ◽  
Sureerut Amnuaypornsri ◽  
Adun Nimpaiboon ◽  
Jitladda Sakdapipanich ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Strain-induced crystallization (SIC) and stress–strain relations of varied crosslink structures and varied crosslink densities of vulcanized natural rubber (NR), vulcanized synthetic polyisoprene rubber (IR), and un-vulcanized natural rubber are compared using a synchrotron X-ray. The onset strain of SIC does not depend on crosslink density and crosslink structures. Un-vulcanized NR shows a smaller onset strain of SIC than that of vulcanized NR. Therefore, entanglements in NR are pivot points to induce SIC, just as entanglements in semi-crystalline plastics induce flow-induced crystallization (FIC). During deformation, complicated phenomena occur simultaneously such as cavitation, crosslink breakdown, SIC with temperature upturn, and limited extensibility of chains between crosslinks, because rubber is a significantly inhomogeneous material. It is still difficult to evaluate the contribution of SIC to stress-upturn of the stress–strain relation of rubber.


RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (15) ◽  
pp. 11317-11324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueqing Ren ◽  
Suhe Zhao ◽  
Qian Yao ◽  
Qianqian Li ◽  
Xingying Zhang ◽  
...  

Effects of different type of plasticizers on the strain-induced crystallization and stress–strain curves of crystallizable rubber.


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