Effect of liquid inclusions on the elasto-mechanical properties of solid-liquid composites

Abstract

Solid-Liquid Composites (SLCs) are a class of soft materials with soft solid matrix encapsulating liquid inclusions. These novel composite materials have a wide range of potential applications, including thermal management, biomedicine, soft-robotics, and flexible electronics [1,2]. By manipulating the type and volume of the liquid inclusion, the properties of SLCs can be fine-tuned to suit specific requirements. In this work, a dilute SLC is developed using commercial grade silicone (Smoothon Ecoflex 00-30) as the solid phase and laboratory-grade Glycerin as the liquid inclusion. While Eco-flex 00-30 mimics the behavior of a certain class of human tissues [3], Glycerin was selected as it is nontoxic and immiscible with silicone. A novel fabrication technique was used for the precise distribution of the liquid inclusion in the uncured soft polymeric material. The elastic properties of the SLCs were then determined experimentally for various volume fractions of the inclusion phase. In the second part, experimental data were used to characterize and compare its properties with various linear-elastic and Hyper-elastic material models. The fabricated SLCs exhibit properties similar to biofidelic materials in literature.