Directional Thermal Diffusivity of Deformed Elastomers

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Proposal Number: CTS-0084276 Principal Investigator: N. Wright Abstract: The uniaxial thermomechanical response of elastomers has been studied for nearly two centuries, but the multiaxial response has been less studied. The multiaxial mechanical response can yield complex and unique behavior, such as unequal biaxial deformation of sheets of rubber subject to equibiaxial loading. Not surprisingly, complete constitutive models of the elastic response are lacking, largely due to the scarcity of suitable multiaxial data. Scarcer still are multiaxial measurements of thermophysical properties. This project will extend the flash thermal diffusivity method to measure the thermal diffusivity of elastomers subject to multiaxial finite deformation. This extended method will allow for the thermal diffusivity of such materials to be arbitrarily anisotropic. These property measurements and resulting constitutive relations should lead to improved continuum models of the general thermoelastic response of elastomers. Developing new property measurement techniques remains important and relevant even with the increased use of computer modeling, because experiments remain, in most cases, the only method of developing the constitutive relations that the models need. The techniques developed here can be applied to materials other than elastomers, for example composites and biological tissues, whether or not these materials are deformed.