Thermo-Mechanically Coupled Thermo-Elasto-Visco-Plastic Modeling of Thermo-Induced Shape Memory Polyurethane at Finite Deformation

Abstract

A series of monotonic tensile experiments of thermo-induced shape memory polyurethane (TSMPU) at different loading rates were carried out to investigate the interaction between the internal heat production and the mechanical deformation. It is shown that the temperature variation on the surfaces of the specimens due to the internal heat production affects the mechanical properties of TSMPU remarkably. Then, based on irreversible thermodynamics, the Helmholtz free energy was decomposed into three parts, i.e., the instantaneous elastic free energy, visco-plastic free energy and heat free energy. The total deformation gradient was decomposed into the mechanical and thermal parts, and the mechanical deformation gradient was further divided into the elastic and visco-plastic components. The Hencky’s logarithmic strain was used in the current configuration. The heat equilibrium equation of internal heat production and heat exchange was derived in accordance with the first and second thermodynamics laws. The temperature of specimens was contributed by the internal heat production and the ambient temperature simultaneously, and a thermo-mechanically coupled thermo-elasto-visco-plastic model was established. The effect of temperature variation of specimens on the mechanical properties of the material was considered in this work. Finally, the capability of the proposed model was validated by comparing the simulated results with the corresponding experimental data of TSMPU.