Issue 31, 2012

Finite element simulation of swelling-induced crack healing in gels

Abstract

Finite element simulations have been conducted to study the evolution of stress fields at the crack tip and the crack opening around the crack tip with time for a gel subject to mode I loading. It is found that the stress singularity at the crack tip is eliminated by the swelling of the gel when the solvent is applied at the crack tip. The swelling of the gel also heals the crack tip and the new crack tip generated by swelling does not have a stress singularity. This crack healing process is also verified by experiments and the strain field is measured by digital image correlation. This crack healing mechanism seems to provide a useful means to improve the mechanical integrity of gels and self-healing in general.

Graphical abstract: Finite element simulation of swelling-induced crack healing in gels

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Feb 2012
Accepted
03 Apr 2012
First published
10 May 2012

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 8107-8112

Finite element simulation of swelling-induced crack healing in gels

J. Zhang, Y. An, K. Yazzie, N. Chawla and H. Jiang, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8107 DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25399B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements