Liquid Filled Elastomers: From Linearization to Elastic Enhancement

TL;DR

This paper investigates how surface tension at liquid-filled cavities affects the elastic properties of elastomers, analyzing from linearized models to the collective enhancement effects in perforated soft solids.

Contribution

It introduces a linearized model for the elastic behavior of elastomers with liquid-filled cavities and explores the collective enhancement effects when many cavities are present.

Findings

Surface tension significantly influences elastomer elasticity.

Linearized models effectively predict cavity effects.

Multiple cavities can enhance elastic properties.

Abstract

Surface tension at cavity walls can play havoc with the mechanical properties of perforated soft solids when the cavities are filled with a fluid. This study is an investigation of the macroscopic elastic properties of elastomers embedding spherical cavities filled with a pressurized liquid in the presence of surface tension, starting with the linearization of the fully nonlinear model and ending with the enhancement properties of the linearized model when many such liquid filled cavities are present.