Micromechanical modelling of the elastoplastic behaviour of nanodispersed elastomer particle-modified PA6

Abstract: In this study the elastoplastic behaviour of nanodispersed elastomeric copolymer particle-modified PA6 is investigated. Micromechanical modelling is proposed to predict the elastoplastic response of the PA6/elastomer composite under uniaxial tensile loading. A 3D self-consistent embedded unit cell model is chosen in this work which has been successfully applied for simulating the mechanical behaviour of metal matrix composites (MMCs). This model is applied for the first time to evaluate the elastoplastic behaviour of PA6 matrix composites with varying volume fractions of elastomer. The elastomer particles are idealistically assumed to be spherical. In the model a circular inclusion is surrounded by the PA6 polymer matrix, which is again embedded in the PA6/elastomer composite. This cell was subjected to uniaxial loading. The mechanical behaviour is determined iteratively in a self-consistent manner using updated elastic–plastic data as new input. A detailed experimental procedure (uniaxial tensile tests in combination with the ARAMIS high speed camera systems) for determining the true stress–strain curves of the matrix and the elastomer as input data for the simulation is reported. In addition, a numerical surface model based on the real structure of the elastomer particles is studied numerically for comparison. Two analytical micromechanical composite models are chosen for evaluating the elastic performance of the composite. The predictions from the 3D self-consistent embedded unit cell model are in good agreement with the experimental results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]