The Exponentiated Hencky Strain Energy in Modeling Tire Derived Material for Moderately Large Deformations

Abstract

This work presents a hyperviscoelastic model, based on the Hencky-logarithmic strain tensor, to model the response of a tire derived material (TDM) undergoing moderately large deformations. The TDM is a composite made by cold forging a mix of rubber fibers and grains, obtained by grinding scrap tires, and polyurethane binder. The mechanical properties are highly influenced by the presence of voids associated with the granular composition and low tensile strength due to the weak connection at the grain–matrix interface. For these reasons, TDM use is restricted to applications involving a limited range of deformations. Experimental tests show that a central feature of the response is connected to highly nonlinear behavior of the material under volumetric deformation which conventional hyperelastic models fail in predicting. The strain energy function presented here is a variant of the exponentiated Hencky strain energy, which for moderate strains is as good as the quadratic Hencky model and in the large strain region improves several important features from a mathematical point of view. The proposed form of the exponentiated Hencky energy possesses a set of parameters uniquely determined in the infinitesimal strain regime and an orthogonal set of parameters to determine the nonlinear response. The hyperelastic model is additionally incorporated in a finite deformation viscoelasticity framework that accounts for the two main dissipation mechanisms in TDMs, one at the microscale level and one at the macroscale level. The new model is capable of predicting different deformation modes in a certain range of frequency and amplitude with a unique set of parameters with most of them having a clear physical meaning. This translates into an important advantage with respect to overcoming the difficulties related to finding a unique set of optimal material parameters as are usually encountered fitting the polynomial forms of strain energies. Moreover, by comparing the predictions from the proposed constitutive model with experimental data we conclude that the new constitutive model gives accurate prediction.