Viscoelasticity of porous composite materials: Experimentals and theory

The viscoelasticity of latex/PS beads composites, having the same volume content of latex and PS beads, but various porosity ratios and specific surfaces of particles has been investigated in the glass temperature range of the latex matrix. In order to give evidence for the main factors governing the viscoelastic properties, data were compared to numerical simulations based on the Christensen and Lo model and Skorokhod's approach. Such modelings were performed by considering either the latex matrix of the PS beads as the continuous phase. It was concluded that the glassy modulus is mainly governed by the volume fraction of porosity, while the rubbery modulus is controlled by both the interactions between phases and the void volume content. The location of the mechanical relaxation seems to be governed by the mechanical coupling between phases, which implies some local phase inversion. The magnitude of the mechanical relaxation depends not only on the chemical coupling induced by the interactions between phases, but also on the mechanical coupling.