Some Remarks on the Effect of Interphases on the Mechanical Response and Stability of Fiber-Reinforced Elastomers

In filled elastomers, the mechanical behavior of the material surrounding the fillers -termed interphasial material-can be significantly different (softer or stiffer) from the bulk behavior of the elastomeric matrix. In this paper, motivated by recent experiments, we study the effect that such interphases can have on the mechanical response and stability of fiberreinforced elastomers at large deformations. We work out in particular analytical solutions for the overall response and onset of microscopic and macroscopic instabilities in axially stretched 2D fiber-reinforced nonlinear elastic solids. These solutions generalize the classical results of Rosen (1965, “Mechanics of Composite Strengthening,” Fiber Composite Materials, American Society for Metals, Materials Park, OH, pp. 37–75), and Triantafyllidis and Maker (1985, “On the Comparison between Microscopic and Macroscopic Instability Mechanisms in a Class of Fiber-Reinforced Composites,” J. Appl. Mech., 52, pp. 794–800), for materials without interphases. It is found that while the presence of interphases does not significantly affect the overall axial response of fiber-reinforced materials, it can have a drastic effect on their stability. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4006024]