Experimental study and numerical modelling of VHB 4910 polymer

VHB 4910 is an important polymeric material that has potential use as electro-active polymer in producing actuators. Such polymer, a member of the acrylic polymer group, is a very soft viscoelastic material. In this contribution, a comprehensive mechanical characterization of this important viscoelastic material has been carried out using different standard experiments such as single-step relaxation tests, multi-step relaxation tests and loading-unloading cyclic tests. In modelling the mechanical behaviour, a modified version of the micro-mechanically motivated Bergstrom-Boyce viscoelastic model has been used along with a finite linear evolution law. The model validation shows its excellent capability to predict the experimental results. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.