Abstract
The stress-softening phenomenon, named as the Mullins effect, can widely occur in filled rubbers after cyclic loading and unloading conditions. The reloading curve is typically below the initial loading curve unless the applied strain exceeds the previously applied maximum strain. Experimental observations have also shown that the Mullins effect can be recovered by annealing the pre-deformed filled rubbers at a high temperature while the recovery level strongly depends on the annealing time and temperature. In this work, we develop a theoretical model to describe the recovery of the Mullins effect by incorporating the dynamic scission and recovery of polymer chains into the eight-chain model. Experiments have also been performed on two types of filled rubbers to validate the theory. The results show that the model is able to capture the main features of the experimental observations including the Mullins effect of virgin specimens and the recovery of the Mullins effect of pre-deformed specimens subjected to different annealed conditions.
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