Micromechanics of cyclic softening in thermoplastic vulcanizates

摘要

The strain history dependence of the stress-strain behavior of thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) materials is studied through a set of experiments and micromechanical models. Thermoplastic vulcanizates are a class of composite material consisting of a high volume fraction of fully-cured elastomeric particles in a thermoplatic matrix. The stress-strain behavior of TPVs is found to soften after having been subjected to an initial load/unload cycle.