Modelling Mullins Effect Induced by Chain Delamination and Reattachment

TL;DR

This paper introduces a continuum model for the Mullins effect in polymer composites, capturing softening and recovery through chain delamination and reattachment mechanisms, aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It presents a novel physical theory incorporating chain entanglements and mesh size distribution to model Mullins effect in polymer composites.

Findings

Model accurately predicts Mullins effect behavior.

Good agreement with experimental data.

Framework adaptable for practical applications.

Abstract

We propose a continuum theory to model the Mullins effect, which is ubiquitously observed in polymer composites. In the theory, the softening of the materials during the stretching process is accounted for by considering the delamination of polymer chains from nano-/micro-sized fillers, and the recovery effect during the de-stretching process is due to the reattachment of the polymer chains to nano-/micro-sized fillers. By incorporating the chain entanglements, Log-Normal distribution of the mesh size in the network, etc., we can obtain a good agreement between our numerical calculation results and existing experimental data. This physical theory can be easily adapted to meet more practical needs and utilised in analysing mechanic properties of polymer composites.