Nonlinear photoelasticity of rubber-like soft materials: comparison between theory and experiment

Abstract

In this paper, we review Treloar's and Arruda's models of nonlinear photoelasticity for rubber-like materials and compare the two models with experimental data. We find that when the deformation is large compared with the limiting stretch of the material, Arruda's model (using non-Gaussian chain assumption) fits the experimental data much better than Treloar's model (using Gaussian chain assumption).