An experimental study on stretchy and tough PDMS/fabric composites

Ruofei Chang; Zhou Chen; Cunjiang Yu; Jizhou Song

doi:10.1115/1.4041679

An experimental study on stretchy and tough PDMS/fabric composites

Ruofei Chang, Zhou Chen, Cunjiang Yu, Jizhou Song

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has a good elasticity but with a pretty low fracture toughness, which limits its use in practical applications. This paper presents a simple and low-cost approach to manufacture a PDMS/fabric composite through incorporating the commercially available stretchy plain weft-knitted nylon fabric into the PDMS matrix. The fracture toughness of the composite is much higher than that of pure PDMS with an increase up to 700%. The toughening mechanism, which can be attributed to the deformation localization induced fiber stretch and damage propagation in the PDMS matrix, is fully investigated. During cyclic loadings, the composite may exhibit a linear elastic response or a significant hysteresis depending on the stretch level. These results provide physical insights into the deformation mechanism of a soft fabric-reinforced composite and may offer practical routes to realize robust crack-insensitive PDMS.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	011012
Journal	Journal of Applied Mechanics, Transactions ASME
Volume	86
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4041679
State	Published - Jan 1 2019
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Composite
Crack
Fabric
Fracture toughness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Condensed Matter Physics
Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering

Online availability

10.1115/1.4041679

Library availability

Discover UIUC Full Text

Cite this

@article{2401609e57b24390abe404c11cd83510,

title = "An experimental study on stretchy and tough PDMS/fabric composites",

abstract = "Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has a good elasticity but with a pretty low fracture toughness, which limits its use in practical applications. This paper presents a simple and low-cost approach to manufacture a PDMS/fabric composite through incorporating the commercially available stretchy plain weft-knitted nylon fabric into the PDMS matrix. The fracture toughness of the composite is much higher than that of pure PDMS with an increase up to 700%. The toughening mechanism, which can be attributed to the deformation localization induced fiber stretch and damage propagation in the PDMS matrix, is fully investigated. During cyclic loadings, the composite may exhibit a linear elastic response or a significant hysteresis depending on the stretch level. These results provide physical insights into the deformation mechanism of a soft fabric-reinforced composite and may offer practical routes to realize robust crack-insensitive PDMS.",

keywords = "Composite, Crack, Fabric, Fracture toughness",

author = "Ruofei Chang and Zhou Chen and Cunjiang Yu and Jizhou Song",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by ASME.",

year = "2019",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1115/1.4041679",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "86",

journal = "Journal of Applied Mechanics, Transactions ASME",

issn = "0021-8936",

publisher = "American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - An experimental study on stretchy and tough PDMS/fabric composites

AU - Chang, Ruofei

AU - Chen, Zhou

AU - Yu, Cunjiang

AU - Song, Jizhou

PY - 2019/1/1

Y1 - 2019/1/1

N2 - Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has a good elasticity but with a pretty low fracture toughness, which limits its use in practical applications. This paper presents a simple and low-cost approach to manufacture a PDMS/fabric composite through incorporating the commercially available stretchy plain weft-knitted nylon fabric into the PDMS matrix. The fracture toughness of the composite is much higher than that of pure PDMS with an increase up to 700%. The toughening mechanism, which can be attributed to the deformation localization induced fiber stretch and damage propagation in the PDMS matrix, is fully investigated. During cyclic loadings, the composite may exhibit a linear elastic response or a significant hysteresis depending on the stretch level. These results provide physical insights into the deformation mechanism of a soft fabric-reinforced composite and may offer practical routes to realize robust crack-insensitive PDMS.

AB - Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has a good elasticity but with a pretty low fracture toughness, which limits its use in practical applications. This paper presents a simple and low-cost approach to manufacture a PDMS/fabric composite through incorporating the commercially available stretchy plain weft-knitted nylon fabric into the PDMS matrix. The fracture toughness of the composite is much higher than that of pure PDMS with an increase up to 700%. The toughening mechanism, which can be attributed to the deformation localization induced fiber stretch and damage propagation in the PDMS matrix, is fully investigated. During cyclic loadings, the composite may exhibit a linear elastic response or a significant hysteresis depending on the stretch level. These results provide physical insights into the deformation mechanism of a soft fabric-reinforced composite and may offer practical routes to realize robust crack-insensitive PDMS.

KW - Composite

KW - Crack

KW - Fabric

KW - Fracture toughness

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056409518&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85056409518&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1115/1.4041679

DO - 10.1115/1.4041679

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85056409518

SN - 0021-8936

VL - 86

JO - Journal of Applied Mechanics, Transactions ASME

JF - Journal of Applied Mechanics, Transactions ASME

IS - 1

M1 - 011012

ER -

An experimental study on stretchy and tough PDMS/fabric composites

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Online availability

Library availability

Related links

Fingerprint

Cite this