rupture

Understanding the dynamic stability of bodies in frictional contact steadily sliding one over the other is of basic interest in various disciplines such as physics, solid mechanics, materials science and geophysics. Here we report on a two-dimensional linear stability analysis of a deformable solid of a finite height H, steadily sliding on top of a rigid solid within a generic rate-and-state friction type constitutive framework, fully accounting for elastodynamic effects.

Dielectric elastomer transducers are often subject to large tensile stretches and are susceptible to rupture. Here we carry out an experimental study of the rupture behavior of membranes of an acrylic dielectric elastomer (VHB 4905). Pure-shear test specimens are used to measure force-displacement curves, using samples with and without pre-cracks. We find that introducing a pre-crack into a membrane drastically reduces the stretch at rupture. Furthermore, we measure the stretch at rupture and fracture energy using samples of different heights at various stretch-rates. The stretch at rupture is found to decrease with sample height, and the fracture energy is found to increase with stretch-rate.
This paper has appeared in the Journal of Applied Physics and can be downloaded from: