TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of moisture on the nonlinear viscoelastic fracture behavior of polymer nanocompsites

T2 - a finite deformation phase-field model

AU - Arash, Behrouz

AU - Exner, Wibke

AU - Rolfes, Raimund

N1 - Funding Information: This work originates from “Challenges of industrial application of nanomodified and hybrid material systems in lightweight rotor blade construction”(“HANNAH - Herausforderungen der industriellen Anwendung von nanomodifizierten und hybriden Werkstoffsystemen im Rotorblattleichtbau”) research project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The authors wish to express their gratitude for the financial support. The authors also acknowledge the support of the LUIS scientific computing cluster, which is funded by Leibniz Universität Hannover, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK), and the German Research Council (DFG).

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - The mechanisms underlying damage in high-performance polymer nanocomposites are remarkably affected by hygrothermal conditions. In this study, we develop a phase-field formulation to investigate the influence of hygrothermal conditions on the nonlinear viscoelastic fracture behavior of epoxy resins and their nanocomposites at finite deformation. For this, the Helmholtz free energy, capturing the effect of temperature and moisture and nanoparticle contents, is defined based on an additive decomposition of the energy into an equilibrium, a non-equilibrium, and a volumetric contribution with different definitions under tensile and compressive loading. The coupled displacement phase-field problem is solved using a quasi-Newton monolithic algorithm and a staggered solution scheme. Numerical examples show that the monolithic algorithm is more efficient. Simulations are performed to investigate the effect of temperature, deformation rate, and moisture content on the force–displacement response of boehmite nanoparticle/epoxy samples in benchmark numerical problems. Comparing numerical predictions and experimental data for compact-tension tests shows good agreement at different nanoparticle contents. Also, the model’s capability to predict fracture patterns is evaluated using simulations of single-edge notched nanocomposite plates under tensile and shear loading.

AB - The mechanisms underlying damage in high-performance polymer nanocomposites are remarkably affected by hygrothermal conditions. In this study, we develop a phase-field formulation to investigate the influence of hygrothermal conditions on the nonlinear viscoelastic fracture behavior of epoxy resins and their nanocomposites at finite deformation. For this, the Helmholtz free energy, capturing the effect of temperature and moisture and nanoparticle contents, is defined based on an additive decomposition of the energy into an equilibrium, a non-equilibrium, and a volumetric contribution with different definitions under tensile and compressive loading. The coupled displacement phase-field problem is solved using a quasi-Newton monolithic algorithm and a staggered solution scheme. Numerical examples show that the monolithic algorithm is more efficient. Simulations are performed to investigate the effect of temperature, deformation rate, and moisture content on the force–displacement response of boehmite nanoparticle/epoxy samples in benchmark numerical problems. Comparing numerical predictions and experimental data for compact-tension tests shows good agreement at different nanoparticle contents. Also, the model’s capability to predict fracture patterns is evaluated using simulations of single-edge notched nanocomposite plates under tensile and shear loading.

KW - Finite deformation

KW - Finite element

KW - Nanocomposite

KW - Nonlinear viscoelasticity

KW - Phase-field modeling

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130521123&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00366-022-01670-1

DO - 10.1007/s00366-022-01670-1

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85130521123

VL - 39

SP - 773

EP - 790

JO - Engineering with computers

JF - Engineering with computers

SN - 0177-0667

IS - 1

ER -