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Damage and Failure of Polymers, Polymer-Like Materials, Adhesives and Polymer Nanocomposites

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 14611

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, Viale delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: mechanics of materials; advanced functional materials; mechanics of soft materials; computational mechanics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers, polymer-like materials, as well as adhesives and polymer composites, are ubiquitous in the real life and are conveniently and easily used in different applications, ranging from engineering to biomedical fields. Moreover, many biological tissues and biomaterials have a polymeric-like microstructure, and the comprehension of their responses, as well as of the degrading phenomena, can take advantage of the mechanics-based damage occurring in polymers, leading to a deeper knowledge of their functionalities and stimuli-responsive adaptability. Polymeric nanocomposites, obtained by adding nanofillers to a polymer with the aim to enhance some mechanical property of the matrix, are also of great interest in advanced applications and require a proper knowledge of the involved micromechanical aspects.

Damage and failure mechanisms taking place in all the above mentioned materials are far to be fully understood, because of their complex microstructure, highly mechanical nonlinear response, large deformation and strain-rate effects, influence of environmental factors (temperature, chemical degradation, etc.).

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather the latest researches in the field, especially those dealing with the theoretical, numerical and experimental study of damage and failure in polymers and polymer-like materials (biomaterials), adhesives and polymers nanocomposites, all of them being characterized by a complex, entangled, amorphous network-like microstructure. In particular, the Special Issue is devoted, but not limited, to the following aspects: Damage and failure due to static or repeated mechanical actions, delamination, void growth, thermal or chemical actions, environmental degradation, strain rate effects, etc.

Of particular interest to the Special Issue will be the microscale and multiscale approaches to the above mentioned aspects; the goal is to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive overview on the problem of assessment and prediction of damage and failure and on the mitigation (repair and healing) of their effects in polymers, polymer-like materials, adhesives and polymers nanocomposites.

We kindly invite you to submit a manuscript(s) for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Prof. Roberto Brighenti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Polymers, polymer-like materials
  • Adhesives
  • Polymer nanocomposites
  • Damage
  • Failure
  • Fracture
  • Material repair and healing
  • Micromechanics modelling

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 12079 KiB  
Article
Gradient-Enhanced Modelling of Damage for Rate-Dependent Material Behaviour—A Parameter Identification Framework
by Robin Schulte, Richard Ostwald and Andreas Menzel
Materials 2020, 13(14), 3156; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13143156 - 15 Jul 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2348
Abstract
The simulation of complex engineering components and structures under loads requires the formulation and adequate calibration of appropriate material models. This work introduces an optimisation-based scheme for the calibration of viscoelastic material models that are coupled to gradient-enhanced damage in a finite strain [...] Read more.
The simulation of complex engineering components and structures under loads requires the formulation and adequate calibration of appropriate material models. This work introduces an optimisation-based scheme for the calibration of viscoelastic material models that are coupled to gradient-enhanced damage in a finite strain setting. The parameter identification scheme is applied to a self-diagnostic poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomer, where so-called mechanophore units are incorporated within the polymeric microstructure. The present contribution, however, focuses on the purely mechanical response of the material, combining experiments with homogeneous and inhomogeneous states of deformation. In effect, the results provided lay the groundwork for a future extension of the proposed parameter identification framework, where additional field-data provided by the self-diagnostic capabilities can be incorporated into the optimisation scheme. Full article
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13 pages, 1266 KiB  
Article
Uncertainty Quantification for Mechanical Properties of Polyethylene Based on Fully Atomistic Model
by Nam Vu-Bac, X. Zhuang and T. Rabczuk
Materials 2019, 12(21), 3613; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12213613 - 4 Nov 2019
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 2707
Abstract
This study is to assess the effect of temperature and strain rate on the mechanical properties of amorphous polyethylene (PE) based on fully atomistic model. A stochastic constitutive model using data obtained from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for the material is constructed. Subsequently, [...] Read more.
This study is to assess the effect of temperature and strain rate on the mechanical properties of amorphous polyethylene (PE) based on fully atomistic model. A stochastic constitutive model using data obtained from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for the material is constructed. Subsequently, a global sensitivity analysis approach is then employed to predict the essential parameters of the mechanical model. The sensitivity indices show that the key parameter affecting Young’s modulus and yield stress is the temperature followed by the strain rate. Full article
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17 pages, 3413 KiB  
Article
Viscous and Failure Mechanisms in Polymer Networks: A Theoretical Micromechanical Approach
by Roberto Brighenti, Federico Artoni and Mattia Pancrazio Cosma
Materials 2019, 12(10), 1576; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12101576 - 14 May 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3301
Abstract
Polymeric materials typically present a complex response to mechanical actions; in fact, their behavior is often characterized by viscous time-dependent phenomena due to the network rearrangement and damage induced by chains’ bond scission, chains sliding, chains uncoiling, etc. A simple yet reliable model—possibly [...] Read more.
Polymeric materials typically present a complex response to mechanical actions; in fact, their behavior is often characterized by viscous time-dependent phenomena due to the network rearrangement and damage induced by chains’ bond scission, chains sliding, chains uncoiling, etc. A simple yet reliable model—possibly formulated on the basis of few physically-based parameters—accounting for the main micro-scale micromechanisms taking place in such a class of materials is required to properly describe their response. In the present paper, we propose a theoretical micromechanical approach rooted in the network’s chains statistics which allows us to account for the time-dependent response and for the chains failure of polymer networks through a micromechanics formulation. The model is up-scaled to the mesoscale level by integrating the main field quantities over the so-called ‘chains configuration space’. After presenting the relevant theory, its reliability is verified through the analysis of some representative tests, and some final considerations are drawn. Full article
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14 pages, 6194 KiB  
Article
Molecular Dynamics Study of an Amorphous Polyethylene/Silica Interface with Shear Tests
by Xiaoying Zhuang and Shuai Zhou
Materials 2018, 11(6), 929; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11060929 - 31 May 2018
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4704
Abstract
An amorphous polyethylene/silica (PE/S) interface exists in many materials. However, the research of the interfacial properties at microscale is lacking. Shear failure and adhesion properties of an amorphous PE/S interface are studied by molecular dynamics. The effects of PE chain length, the number [...] Read more.
An amorphous polyethylene/silica (PE/S) interface exists in many materials. However, the research of the interfacial properties at microscale is lacking. Shear failure and adhesion properties of an amorphous PE/S interface are studied by molecular dynamics. The effects of PE chain length, the number of chains, and coupling agents on the shear behavior and interfacial adhesion are investigated. It is found that the modified silica (mS) surface induces an increase in the adhesion strength compared to unmodified S. The damage process and failure mode of the PE/S and PE/mS interface are analyzed at microscale. The contribution of bond length, bond angle, torsional potentials, and nonbonded energy is estimated as a function of the shear deformation to clarify the deformation mechanisms. The energy partitioning results indicate that the elastic, yield, and postyielding regions are mostly controlled by the nonbonded interactions. The dihedral motions of the chains also have an influence. Furthermore, the simulation results exhibit how the internal mechanism evolves with the shear deformation. Full article
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