Effects of nonlinear hyper‐viscoelasticity and matrix/fiber debonding on the mechanical properties of short carbon fiber/styrene‐butadiene rubber composites under cyclic uniaxial loading using a multiscale finite element model

Abstract A multiscale finite element analysis was performed for short carbon fiber (SCF) reinforced rubber composites under uniaxial tensile loading with periodic geometries and random distributions of the short fibers. Three different zones were considered, including the rubber matrix, SCF as the inclusion phase, and a thin matrix layer as the interphase. A nonlinear hyper‐viscoelastic model was selected for the matrix, while linear viscoelastic and elastic models were considered for the interphase and reinforcing phases, respectively. The analyses were carried out on an incremental basis from a lower loading‐unloading rate of 10 mm/min to a higher rate of 100 mm/min. Two interface conditions were considered between the polymer matrix and the SCF phases: perfect bonding and partial debonding. The partial debonding was modeled via extended FEM (XFEM) with a crack initiation criterion. An integral averaging technique was employed to predict stress and strain at the macro‐scale. Based on the observations in this work, hysteresis and energy dissipation decrease with the addition of the short fibers to the neat rubber and surface modification of the fibers under three‐cycle loading. For example, in the first cycle and for a constant stress of 0.45 MPa, the strain value decreases from 0.25 to 0.17 MPa at the loading‐unloading rate of 10 mm/min. The high‐fidelity model developed in this work for short fiber/rubber composites is able to predict the stress and strain responses of the SCF/SBR composites, confirming the accuracy of the utilized multiscale approach.