Multiscale modeling of the effect of curing stresses on the deformation properties and damageability of high-energy materials

The paper presents phenomenological constitutive relations for a cure filled polymer continuum, obtained in the framework of near-incompressible viscoelastic elastomers. In the framework of a three-component medium, the phenomenological approach is used to develop a system of constitutive equations describing the thermomechanical behavior of filled soft polymers An integrated computational framework for filled polymer composites is introduced. A novel polymer curing model is used in connection with modeling the polymer curing process during manufacturing of elastomer composites. The model is based on the notion of polymer networks that are continuously formed in a body of changing shape due to changes in temperature, chemistry and external loads. Nonlinear material behavior is incorporated through nonlocal continuum damage mechanics that preserves mesh objectivity in calculations that go beyond maximum loads. This model is designed to describe the stress-strain states in the temperature range comprising the intervals of phase and relaxation transitions. The results of numerical experiments demonstrating the possibility of describing the characteristic properties of deformation processes typical of filled elastomer based on hydrogenated nitrile–butadiene rubber are given.