TY - JOUR
T1 - Poroelastic toughening in polymer gels
T2 - A theoretical and numerical study
AU - Noselli, Giovanni
AU - Lucantonio, Alessandro
AU - McMeeking, Robert M.
AU - Desimone, Antonio
N1 - Acknowledgments
G.N., A.L. and A.D.S. acknowledge support from the European Research Council through AdG-340685 – MicroMotility. Work by R.M.M. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES) under Award # DE-SC0014427.
PY - 2016/9/1
Y1 - 2016/9/1
N2 - We explore the Mode I fracture toughness of a polymer gel containing a semi-infinite, growing crack. First, an expression is derived for the energy release rate within the linearized, small-strain setting. This expression reveals a crack tip velocity-independent toughening that stems from the poroelastic nature of polymer gels. Then, we establish a poroelastic cohesive zone model that allows us to describe the micromechanics of fracture in gels by identifying the role of solvent pressure in promoting poroelastic toughening. We evaluate the enhancement in the effective fracture toughness through asymptotic analysis. We confirm our theoretical findings by means of numerical simulations concerning the case of a steadily propagating crack. In broad terms, our results explain the role of poroelasticity and of the processes occurring in the fracturing region in promoting toughening of polymer gels.
AB - We explore the Mode I fracture toughness of a polymer gel containing a semi-infinite, growing crack. First, an expression is derived for the energy release rate within the linearized, small-strain setting. This expression reveals a crack tip velocity-independent toughening that stems from the poroelastic nature of polymer gels. Then, we establish a poroelastic cohesive zone model that allows us to describe the micromechanics of fracture in gels by identifying the role of solvent pressure in promoting poroelastic toughening. We evaluate the enhancement in the effective fracture toughness through asymptotic analysis. We confirm our theoretical findings by means of numerical simulations concerning the case of a steadily propagating crack. In broad terms, our results explain the role of poroelasticity and of the processes occurring in the fracturing region in promoting toughening of polymer gels.
KW - Crack propagation
KW - Fracture
KW - Polymer gel
KW - Swelling
KW - Toughening
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84964666289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jmps.2016.04.017
DO - 10.1016/j.jmps.2016.04.017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84964666289
VL - 94
SP - 33
EP - 46
JO - Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids
JF - Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids
SN - 0022-5096
ER -