An anisotropic visco-hyperelastic model for thermally-actuated shape memory polymer-based woven fabric-reinforced composites

Abstract

An anisotropic visco-hyperelastic constitutive model for thermally-actuated woven fabric-reinforced shape memory polymer composites (SMPCs) is proposed. The viscoelasticity of the shape memory polymer and anisotropic hyperelasticity of the fabric are separately described. The second law of thermodynamics is used to derive the constitutive relations through decomposing the thermodynamic free energy. A woven fabric-reinforced SMPC is prepared and its thermomechanical and shape memory experiments are conducted to verify the proposed model. Comparison between the predicted and experiment results indicates an good consistency, which attests that the developed model can predict the anisotropic mechanical and shape memory properties of thermally induced SMPCs reinforced by woven fabrics effectively. And numerical investigation of the effect of fiber yarn orientation on the shape fixity and recovery is also performed.