Importance of corners in fracture of highly crosslinked polymeric adhesives
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
In this study, very large molecular dynamics simulations with open ends between two solid adherends have been performed treating tensile deformation of coarse-grained, highly crosslinked polymer networks modeling epoxy systems. The open boundary and the presence of corners dramatically alter the fracture behavior. In contrast to systems with periodic boundaries, the failure strain decreases with increasing system size until a critical size is reached. This decrease greatly reduces the difference in the crack initiation strains between simulation and experiment. In the open geometry, the sides of the polymer network contract inward forming wedge shaped corners. The stress and strain are concentrated in the corners where the shear component is present and large. The nonuniformity of the strain results in accumulation of bond breaking in the corners and crack initiation there. Lastly, t the corner strain is system size dependent, which results in a system size dependence of the failure strain.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 1512901
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--2015-6759J; 665060
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Physics Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 149; ISSN 0021-9606
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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