Mechanical characterization of elastomeric polymer through micro instrumented indentation technique

Abstract

In this study, the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) theory was combined with the instrumented indentation technique (IIT) to evaluate work of adhesion and modulus of elastomeric polymer. Indentation test was used to obtain the load-displacement data for contacts between Tungsten Carbide indenter and elastomeric polymer. And the JKR contact model, contrived to take viscoelastic effects of polymer into account, was applied to compensate the contact area and the elastic modulus which Hertzian contact model would underestimate and overestimate, respectively. Besides, we could obtain the thermodynamic work of adhesion by considering the surface energy in this contact model. In order to define the relation between JKR contact area and applied load without optical measuring of contact area, we used the relation between applied load and contact stiffness by examining the correlation between JKR contact area and stiffness through dimensional analysis with 14 kinds of elastomeric polymer. From this work, it could be demonstrated that the interfacial work of adhesion and elastic modulus of compliant polymer can be obtained from a simple instrumented indentation testing without area measurement, and provided as the main algorithm of compliant polymer characterization.