Utilization of Moiré interferometry to study strain transfer across polymer interfaces within multilayer thermoplastic elastomers

Abstract

In this paper, a moiré interferometry technique was used to study the viscoelastic strain distributions within and across the interfaces of multilayer thermoplastic elastomers, which were fabricated as models for functionally modulus‐graded materials. Two types of interfaces, those formed from miscible and immiscible pairs of the same thickness, were fabricated within multilayer thermoplastic samples. The analysis of the moiré fringe patterns indicated that there was a large normal strain, εy, concentration at the polymer interfaces formed from the immiscible or partially miscible pairs. However, this large normal strain was not observed at the interfaces formed from the miscible pairs. These results suggest that the magnitude of strain concentrations at polymer interfaces within functionally modulus‐graded materials could be significantly reduced by extensive chain interdiffusion, which could be promoted by careful selection of miscible polymer pairs. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 2196–2206, 2005

Largely Enhanced Service Life and Energy Harvesting Stability of Dielectric Elastomer Generator by Designing and Optimizing Compliance of Electrodes

“…Based on the analysis in the Introduction section, the compliance of FEs is closely related to their dynamic mechanical properties (DMPs), considering that the DEG is subjected to cyclic loading. In addition, frictional resistance related to the energy dissipation at the interface can be used to quantitatively characterize the compliance of FEs. , The principles of characterization of DMP are demonstrated in Figure d. The stress–time and strain–time responses of the tested materials show different sinusoidal behaviors, with the amplitudes of stress and strain noted as σ A and ε A , respectively.…”

“…Therefore, dynamic mechanical properties (DMPs) should be more suitable for assessing the compliance of FEs. The acquisition of DMP of both FEs and DE materials and the analysis of the interfacial energy dissipation between them, which is closely related to the friction at the interface, , are critical for the accurate characterization of FE compliance. Specifically, as shown in Figure c, a similar DMP of the DE matrices and the FEs can reduce the interfacial energy dissipation and frictional resistance at the interface, resulting in improved FE compliance.…”