Stress relaxation and strain recovery phenomena during curing and thermomechanical loading : Thermorheologically simple viscoelastic analysis

Stress relaxation and strain recovery phenomena during curing and changed thermal conditions are analyzed using a viscoelastic model developed for thermorheologically complex materials (VisCoR). By making several simplifying assumptions regarding the material behavior, the incremental form of the VisCoR model is reformulated to a version describing thermorheologically simple material and presented in one-dimension for simplicity. The model (called VisCoR-simple) is used to analyze material behavior under various conditions, including stress relaxation behavior at varying temperatures and time scales; tensile loading and unloading tests at high temperatures; stress build up and “frozen-in” strains during curing and following cool-down and strain recovery during the next step of heating. Furthermore, the differences between the so-called “path-dependent” model, which is a linear elastic model with different elastic properties in glassy and rubbery regions, and the presented viscoelastic model are studied. The path-dependent model is an extreme case of the viscoelastic model presented. The importance of considering viscoelasticity when considering temperature and curing effects on polymers and the shortcomings of the path-dependent model are revealed and discussed. © The AuthorFinansiär: Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking, European Union (EU), Horizon 2020, ProTHiC, 821019Finansiär 2: Vinnova, HiSim