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Glassy polymers exhibit a constitutive response that is non-linear viscoelastic for all but
small strains and make for a challenging set of materials to model. Mechanical properties
are highly dependent on test conditions such as strain rate and temperature and deviate
further at high strain rates due to the onset of the beta transition and to adiabatic effects.
Thus, to accurately model impact conditions where a component may experience a range
of rates and temperatures, a single model is needed that can predict this response
comprehensively across a very wide range of conditions. In this work we focus on the
development of a constitutive model and its parameterisation for typical glassy polymers,
using experimental data recently acquired through a range of techniques by collaborators
at the University of Oxford.
The constitutive equations of the Oxford glass-rubber constitutive model (1) were further
developed with particular emphasis on the large strain response and the evolution of
structure. Thus at short range the model encompasses a non-linear viscoelastic response
with physical ageing and mechanical rejuvenation using the fictive temperature, and
separate alpha and beta relaxations. At long range a temperature and rate dependent
Edwards-Vilgis model captures the hyperelastic behaviour due to stretching of the
entanglement network. Adiabatic heating is calculated accounting for dissipated energy,
entropy-elasticity, and the energy needed for structural change.
The model is parameterised using standard mechanical, thermomechanical and thermal
experimental data across the broad range of test conditions (-60°C