A Study on Deformation of Inhomogeneous Viscoelastic Material

The mechanical behaviour of polymers is viscoelastic and time dependent. Polymers are often inhomogeneous, and hence it may be important to study the deformation behavior of inhomogeneous viscoelastic materials. A simple plane model of inhomogeneous materials is employed where two kinds of rectangular regions having a different modulus of viscoelasticity in the Maxwell model are assumed to be located regularly. This model is analysed numerically by means of the finite element method under plane stress condition. The applied stress is simple tension. The numerical results are compared with the analytical result obtained for the simple parallel or series Maxwell model. The effect of the aspect ratio of the inhomogeneous regions on the deformation behaviour is clarified.