On the simultaneous elongation and inflation of a tubular membrane of BKZ fluid

Abstract

This work considers a viscoelastic fluid membrane which is initially tubular and bonded at each end to a rigid circular disc. The membrane is subjected to prescribed elongational and internal pressure histories causing it to undergo quasi-static axisymmetric deformation. This example is intended to simulate an experiment which has been recently proposed for the determination of constitutive properties for viscoelastic fluids as well as some polymer sheet forming process.The constitutive equation is presumed to be of integral type. The formulation of the problem leads to a basic system of equations which is intended for numerical solution. It has the structure of a two-point boundary value problem for a system ordinary differential equations at each time. The formulation has the advantage that the equations do not have to be rederived if the constitutive equation is changed. A change in the sub-program for computing stress from stretch history is all that is needed.A numerical method of solution is presented. In a numerical example, the material is taken to be polyisobutylene, modeled as a BKZ fluid.