Structure Instability in Particle Filled Elastomeric Polymer Composite Under Tensile Stress

The buckling instability and crease development in elastomeric soft material under compression has been experimentally and theoretically studied over the past decades[1]. The structural instability of such material under tensile stress, however, has not been well understood. In this work, we present the structure instability of a polymer particle composite under tensile stress. It is observed that periodic undulation in sample surface develops as the tensile stress increases, manifested as linear ridges and valleys on the sample surface perpendicular to the direction of tension. The undulation is reversible at small strains. There is a memory effect in the undulation location at repeated strain applications. At large enough strain, the material eventually fractures from crack developed at one of the valley regions from the undulation structure.

References
[1] Shengqiang Cai, Dayong Chen, Zhigang Suo, Ryan C. Hayward, Creasing instability of elastomer films, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 1301-1304