Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2411.00231

On modeling fracture of soft polymers

Aditya Konale·Vikas Srivastava
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Soft polymers are ubiquitous materials in nature and as engineering materials with properties varying from rate-independent to rate-dependent. Current fracture toughness measures are non-unique for rate-dependent soft materials for varying loading profiles and specimen geometries. Works on modeling fracture in rate-dependent soft polymers are limited to specific pre-cracked geometries. There is no generally agreed-upon model for the fracture of soft polymers. We propose and show that a critical value of stress work can be used as a measure of fracture resistance for a certain class of soft polymers. We develop a damage model to predict fracture in soft polymers. In the model, the energetic part of the critical stress work is proposed as a damage initiation criterion that has the ability to capture failure surfaces. The damage growth is modeled through a generalized gradient-damage framework. The fracture model is validated for both elastomers and viscous soft polymers by comparing model predictions against experimental results for different materials (ethylene propylene diene monomer - EPDM, EPS25 vitrimer, styrene butadiene rubber - SBR, natural rubber - NR, and polyborosiloxane - PBS), a variety of specimen geometries, and loading conditions. The model can predict key physical phenomena such as brittle and ductile responses and different fracture profiles. The microstructural quantities, such as subchain dissociation energy during the fracture of polymers, can be predicted from the macroscopic model parameters.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.soft

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Aditya Konale, Vikas Srivastava. 2024-10-31. On modeling fracture of soft polymers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105346

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Slow Dynamics and the Geometry of Jammed Packings

Saddle points in the energy landscape of granular packings dominate the discrete steepest descent dynamics and ultimately determine the path that an out of mechanical equilibrium packing will follow and the resulting stable minimum that it will find. The saddle points that ultimately determine the resulting minima tend to be low-index saddle points. For models with an analytic energy landscape, such as the $p$-spin model, the steepest descent minimization path is affected by higher-index saddle points, which pull the system towards saddle points of decreasing index before arriving at the minima. Here, we examine the steepest descent minimization path of granular packings and compare them to the $p$-spin model. We show that the granular packing steepest descent minimization paths act like their smooth energy landscape counterparts and get attracted by saddle points. The index versus time curves for all models follow a shifted, stretched exponential. We further show that the shape parameter for the granular packings is unchanged when the energy landscape is modified to become analytic (Gaussian potential in a harmonic well) or non-local (Mari-Krzakala-Kurchan). The $p$-spin, on the other hand, has a significantly larger shape parameter. The reason is not due to the dimensionality, packing fraction, nonanalyticity, or the locality of the Hamiltonian of the models. The exact reason for the discrepancy in the shape parameter is \st{still} an unsolved mystery.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2026

A Phase-Field Study of Desiccation Crack Pattern Maturation under Drying-Wetting Cycles

The characteristic intersection angle of the desiccation crack relaxes from near \ang{90} toward \ang{120} under repeated drying--wetting cycles. However, the theoretical understanding of this relaxation is insufficient, especially the modeling of the drying--wetting cycles. Here we introduce a phase-field model of desiccation fracture, extending the model proposed in previous studies by adding crack healing and a scar effect left by past cracks. By repeating drying--wetting cycles in a finite element simulation, we find that the angle distribution develops a growing peak near \ang{120} as the cycle number increases, consistent with experiments. The standard deviation of the intersection angle from \ang{120} relaxes exponentially with a characteristic time of about 2.85 cycles. These results are consistent with experiments, except that the characteristic time is slightly smaller than the experimental value. Crack energy dominates the total energy and also relaxes exponentially with nearly the same characteristic cycle as the angle relaxation. This decay is driven mainly by a shortening of the effective crack length rather than a change in effective fracture toughness.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2026

Kinetics of ferritin crystal formation and melting in acoustically levitated droplets

Understanding protein crystallization pathways is essential for controlling crystallization in structural biology, materials science, and pharmaceutical applications. Classical nucleation theory does not fully capture crystallization processes for several proteins, including ferritin. Here, we combine acoustic levitation with small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS) to monitor ferritin crystallization in evaporating aqueous polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions. Acoustic levitation rapidly drives the droplets through a broad range of protein and polymer concentrations, enabling time-resolved measurements of crystallization during evaporation. The scattering data show that ferritin crystals form during evaporation and subsequently lose their crystalline order upon further dehydration. Varying the PEG molecular weight switches between distinct crystallization pathways: one dominated by attractive protein-protein interactions and another dominated by repulsive interactions and excluded-volume effects. Furthermore, we find that lower molecular weight PEG (1000 g/mol) suppresses the dehydration-induced loss of crystalline order observed for higher molecular weight PEG (6000 g/mol), providing a simple strategy for improving protein crystal stability.

cond-mat.soft↗