title: On cavitation and macroscopic behaviour of amorphous polymer-rubber blends.
abstract: The macroscopic behaviour of rubber-modified polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) was investigated by taking into account the microdeformation mechanisms of rubber cavitation. The dependence of the macroscopic stress-strain behaviour of matrix deformation on the cavitation of rubber particles was discussed. A phenomenological elastic-viscoplastic model was used to model the behaviour of the matrix material, while the rubber particles were modelled with the hyperelasticity theory. A two-phase composite material with a periodic arrangement of reinforcing particles of a circular unit cell section was considered. Finite-element analysis was used to determine the local stresses and strains in the two-phase composite. In order to describe the cavitation of the rubber particles, a criterion of void nucleation is implemented in the finite-element (FE) code. A comparison of the numerically predicted response with experimental result indicates that the numerical homogenisation analysis gives satisfactory prediction results.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille (UMR CNRS 8107), USTL, Ecole Polytechnique Universitaire de Lille, cité scientifique, avenue P Langevin, 59655 Villeneuve d'ascq Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Naima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Belayachi
authors.affiliation: ENI Val de Loire, Laboratoire de Mécanique et Rhéologie, rue de la Chocolatterie, 41034 Bloie, France.
authors.forename: Noureddine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benseddiq
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille (UMR CNRS 8107), USTL, Ecole Polytechnique Universitaire de Lille, cité scientifique, avenue P Langevin, 59655 Villeneuve d'ascq Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Moussa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naït-Abdelaziz
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille (UMR CNRS 8107), USTL, Ecole Polytechnique Universitaire de Lille, cité scientifique, avenue P Langevin, 59655 Villeneuve d'ascq Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamdi
keywords: elastic-viscoplastic; finite-element modelling; polymer matrix composite; rubber cavitation damage