University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The energetics of heterogeneous deformation in open-cell solid foams

Gioia, Gustavo; Wang, Yu; Cuitino, Alberto M.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/112656

Description

Title
The energetics of heterogeneous deformation in open-cell solid foams
Author(s)
  • Gioia, Gustavo
  • Wang, Yu
  • Cuitino, Alberto M.
Issue Date
2000-06
Keyword(s)
  • Heterogeneous Deformation
  • Open-cell Solid Foams
Abstract
Compressed open-cell solid foams frequently exhibit spatially heterogeneous distributions of local stretch. The theoretical aspects of this deformation habit have not been clearly elucidated. Here we propose a simple nonlinear model aimed at illustrating the most salient features of the micromechanics of uniaxially stretched solid foams. Then we study the energetics of the model to show that the stretch heterogeneity observed in experiments stems from the nonconvexity of the governing energy functional, which favors two characteristic values of local stretch. These characteristic values are independent of the applied overall stretch, and define two configurational phases of the foam. The predicted stretch distributions correspond to stratified mixtures of the phases; stretching occurs in the form of a phase transformation, by growth of one of the phases at the expense of the other. We also compare the predicted mechanical response with experimental data for a series of foams of different densities, and discuss the analogy between the stretching of foams and the liquefaction of van der Waals gases. Lastly, we perform displacement field measurements using the digital image correlation technique, and find the results to be in agreement with our predictions.
Publisher
Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. College of Engineering. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Series/Report Name or Number
  • TAM R 946
  • 2000-6021
ISSN
0073-5264
Type of Resource
text
Language
eng
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/112656
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2000 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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Technical Reports - Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM) PRIMARY
TAM technical reports include manuscripts intended for publication, theses judged to have general interest, notes prepared for short courses, symposia compiled from outstanding undergraduate projects, and reports prepared for research-sponsoring agencies.