Plasticized polyvinyl chloride(PVC)gel is a type of electroactive polymers,which has potentials to be applied as soft actuators.However,few studies have been performed to investigate the mechanical responses of PVC ge...Plasticized polyvinyl chloride(PVC)gel is a type of electroactive polymers,which has potentials to be applied as soft actuators.However,few studies have been performed to investigate the mechanical responses of PVC gels in cyclic loading conditions.In this work,we combined experiments and theory to characterize the mechanical responses of two plasticized PVC gels.The gels were subjected to different types of loading-unloading-reloading cycles.The experimental results showed that the plasticized PVC gels exhibited stress softening response(the Mullins effect)in the cyclic tests.Meanwhile,the gels regained some strength after annealing at room temperature for several hours,indicating the self-healing ability of gels.We further extended the eight-chain model with incorporation of the chain dissociation and reassociation mechanism.The developed constitutive model is able to reproduce the Mullins effect and the recovery of the Mullins effect observed in the experiments.Our results clearly show that understanding the complex mechanical response is crucial for the applications of plasticized PVC gels.展开更多
基金This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12022204)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.2021FZZX001-16).
文摘Plasticized polyvinyl chloride(PVC)gel is a type of electroactive polymers,which has potentials to be applied as soft actuators.However,few studies have been performed to investigate the mechanical responses of PVC gels in cyclic loading conditions.In this work,we combined experiments and theory to characterize the mechanical responses of two plasticized PVC gels.The gels were subjected to different types of loading-unloading-reloading cycles.The experimental results showed that the plasticized PVC gels exhibited stress softening response(the Mullins effect)in the cyclic tests.Meanwhile,the gels regained some strength after annealing at room temperature for several hours,indicating the self-healing ability of gels.We further extended the eight-chain model with incorporation of the chain dissociation and reassociation mechanism.The developed constitutive model is able to reproduce the Mullins effect and the recovery of the Mullins effect observed in the experiments.Our results clearly show that understanding the complex mechanical response is crucial for the applications of plasticized PVC gels.
