A parametric analysis of damage evolution for pull-out of a rigid fiber from an elastomer matrix

Abstract The structures composed by metal fiber and auxiliary elastomer are stretchable and have potential application under larger strain. Nowadays, interfacial failure is still the key problem affecting practicability of the structures. The result of typical pull-out test indicates that three stages exist in this pull-out process: elastic deformation, interfacial debonding and interfacial friction. For the sake of determination of interfacial parameters, a numerical method has been proposed to characterize the damage initiation point by using the slope of force-displacement curve of pull-out experiment. Furthermore, based on the basic material and interfacial parameters, extensive simulations have been conducted to study parametric effect on the general mechanical behavior of structures, including interfacial elastic modulus, failure strength and damage evolution law and friction. The results indicate both interfacial cohesive and friction contribute to the force increasing after damage initiation points.