Effect of Solvent Diffusion on Fracture of Hydrogels

Abstract eng:
This paper presents a thermodynamically consistent method for calculating the transient energy release rate for crack growth in hydrogels based on a modified path-independent J-integral. The transient energy release rate takes into account the effect of solvent diffusion, separating the energy lost in diffusion from the energy available to drive crack growth. Numerical simulations are performed using a nonlinear transient finite element method for center-cracked hydrogel specimens, subject to remote tension under generalized plane strain conditions. The transient energy release rate is predicted as a function of time for two types of chemical boundary conditions with distinct behaviours due to solvent diffusion. It is found that the stress singularity near the crack tip depends on both the far-field strain and the local solvent diffusion.

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