New Analytical Model for Swellable Materials

Abstract

As discussed in Chapter 6, numerical prediction of swelling can be attempted using existing hyperelastic material models available in commercial finite element (FE) packages. However, none of these models can accurately represent the behavior of swelling elastomers. The major shortcoming of currently available swelling models is that they consider Gaussian statistics for mechanical contribution of configuration entropy, which is based on chains having limited extensibility. Some later models (not yet incorporated into commercial FE packages) can give a reasonable account of certain behavior patterns in swelling elastomers, but do not explain other aspects well. One of the new approaches is to treat swelling elastomers as gels. As described earlier, gels are mostly liquid, yet they behave like solids due to a three-dimensional cross-linked network within the liquid. Many authors consider gel as poro-elastic or porous and use Darcy’s law to model the amount of fluid influx. However, a swollen elastomer mostly consists of the solvent. When an external load is applied, maximum resistance comes from the solvent molecules as in diffusion. Also, most of the new models are quite complex in concept and formulation, and there is a serious need for a scientifically simpler model.