ABSTRACT
A typical property of filled rubber material is that prestraining leads to a reduction of stresses at strain levels smaller than the maximum strain in the loading history, known as Mullins effect. This induced softening is related to the direction of the prestrain and therefore results in a material anisotropy. The micro-structural mechanisms responsible for this effect are still unclear and subject of discussion. In this work, an explanation based on a self-organization process of weak physicall inks is proposed. The core idea states, that a pattern consisting of low and high linkage density areas arises and evolves with the deformation. The Mullins effect is attributed to an adaption of the pattern to previous deformation states. A simulation model is employed to validate the theory. Hereby, an extreme abstraction of the molecular structure of the material is used to achieve a very simple model structure, which can exhibit inelastic effects only due re-organization of the physical links. The model response is compared with a measurement result and reveals a striking resemblance with typical rubber behavior. Statistical investigations underline that the model is indeed based on a self-organization process and yield insights concerning typical model properties.
