Viscoelasticity

Introduction to Viscoelasticity
All materials, from gases to solids, can be divided into the following three categories of rheological behavior:

 Viscous materials: in a purely viscous material all energy added is dissipated into heat Elastic materials: in a purely elastic material all energy added is stored in the material Viscoelastic materials: a viscoelastic material exhibits viscous as well as viscoelastic behaviour

 Typical examples of viscoelastic materials are bread dough, polymer melts and artificial or natural gels. Note: in the rheological sense water is a "viscous" fluid. Normally, however, the term "viscous" is used for fluids with high viscosity.

 In most cases of viscoelastic behaviour the time factor has a significant impact on the flow properties observed.

A measure of the influence of time is the socalled Deborah Number, D:

D = (response time) / (observation time)

 An example of a system having a large Deborah Number is a normal glass window. If old enough, e.g. an old church window, a difference in thickness at the top and at the bottom can be easily measured. Although the viscosity of glass is high, about 1040 Pas, it is still a liquid and consequently it flows.

Introduction to Viscoelasticity
All viscous liquids deform continuously under the influence of an applied stress They exhibit viscous behavior. Solids deform under an applied stress, but soon reach a position of equilibrium, in which further deformation ceases. If the stress is removed they recover their original shape They exhibit elastic behavior. Viscoelastic materials can exhibit both viscosity and elasticity, depending on the conditions.
Polymers display VISCOELASTIC properties

Viscous fluid

Viscoelastic fluid

Viscoelastic solid

Elastic solid

Introduction to Viscoelasticity
The response of polymeric liquids, such as melts and solutions, to an imposed stress may under certain conditions resemble the behavior of a solid or a liquid, depending on the situation. Reiner used the biblical expression that mountains flowed in front of God to define the DEBORAH number

characteri stic material time De time scale of the deformatio n C De tS

Solid-like response: Liquid-like response:

De De 0

Viscous (Liquid-like) Response

Stress Relaxation experiment (suddenly applying a strain to the sample
and following the stress as a function of time as the strain is held constant).

go

g (strain)

g o const g0

t (stress)

to=0 to=0 time time Creep Experiment (a constant stress is instantaneously applied to the
material and the resulting strain is followed as a function of time)

t (stress)
to to=0 ts
time

g (strain)

slope g

dg to dt

to g ts
time

to=0

ts

Elastic (Solid-like) Response

Stress Relaxation experiment go

t (stress)

g (strain)
to=0 Creep Experiment
time

to=0

time

t (stress)
to to=0 ts

g (strain)
to/G to=0 ts

time

time