A Combined Modeling and Experimental Study of Tensile Properties of Additively Manufactured Polymeric Composite Materials

Abstract

In this study, the mechanical properties, in terms of stress–strain curves, of additively manufactured polymeric composite materials, Tango black plus (TB+), vero white plus (VW ), and their intermediate materials with different mixing ratios, are reported. The ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break are experimentally measured using ASTM standard tensile test. As the content of VM+ increases, the strength of the polymeric materials increases and elongation decreases. Additionally, the Shore A hardness of the materials increases with reduced TB+ concentration. In parallel to the experiment, hyperelastic models are employed to fit the experimental stress–strain curves. The shear modulus of the materials is obtained from the Arruda–Boyce model, and it increases with reduced concentration of TB+. Due to the good quality of the fitted data, it is suggested that the Arruda–Boyce model is the best model for modeling the additively manufactured polymeric materials. With the well characterized and modeled mechanical properties of these hyperelastic materials, designers can conduct computational study for application in flexible electronics field.