Simulation of mechanical behaviour of polychloroprene/versatic acid vinyl ester/methyl methacrylate/2-ethylhexyl acrylate copolymer blend

Finite element modelling and homogenization approaches are very common for prediction of mechanical performance of composite materials. Polymer blends also display a heterogeneous microstructure and the use of these methods to assess elastomeric blends is poorly investigated. The main purpose of present investigation is to analyze the possibility of finite element modelling by homogenization approach for elastomeric polychloroprene (PCP)/versatic acid vinyl ester/methyl methacrylate/2-ethylhexyl acrylate (VeoVa-11/MMA/2-EHA) copolymer blend. To examine the properties of specifically obtained materials, two types (random and periodical) of finite element models of the blend microstructure were devised. The Mooney–Rivlin function was chosen for the description of both PCP and VeoVa-11/MMA/EHA copolymer. The modelling showed that there was not any difference between the periodical and random finite element models. The finite element modelling results exhibited a good agreement with the experimentally obtained values for prediction of the mechanical behaviour of the blend under large deformations. Therefore, the condition under high strain was studied to predict the effect of VeoVa-11/MMA/EHA copolymer content on the stress value of the blend. It was found that the strength of the blend with a small amount of VeoVa-11/MMA/EHA (5–10%) was lower in comparison with that of PCP strength. However, the higher amount of copolymer (15–20%) had the strengthening effect on the blend.