ABSTRACT
Rubber-like polymers are valued for their unique mechanical properties, yet predicting their fracture remains a challenge due to the complex microscale dynamics of polymer networks. This difficulty is amplified in natural rubbers, where strain-induced crystallization enhances toughness. This work introduces a multiscale model to predict fracture in both strain-crystallizing and non-crystallizing rubbers. At the microscale, the model employs non-Gaussian statistics to capture entropic chain behavior while accounting for molecular bond distortions and crystallite evolution. These effects are bridged to the macroscale via a damage-adapted, non-affine microsphere model. A macroscopic phase-field approach is then used to simulate fracture, assuming that damage arises from chain failure and is hindered by local crystallinity. Comparisons with experimental data validate the model’s accuracy and its ability to capture the toughening mechanisms of diverse rubber-like materials.
SPEAKER
Professor Christian Linder is the principal investigator of the Computational Mechanics of Materials Lab. He is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Professor, by courtesy, of Mechanical Engineering. He is also an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering at Stanford. He received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley, an MA in Mathematics from UC Berkeley, an M.Sc. in Computational Mechanics from the University of Stuttgart, and a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Civil Engineering from TU Graz. Before joining Stanford in 2013 he was a Junior Professor of Micromechanics of Materials at the Applied Mechanics Institute of Stuttgart University, where he also obtained his Habilitation in Mechanics. Notable honors include a Fulbright scholarship, the 2013 Richard-von-Mises Prize, the 2016 ICCM International Computational Method Young Investigator Award, the 2016 NSF CAREER Award, the 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and the 2026 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel-Forschungspreis from the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung.