An Experimental Study on Stretchy and Tough PDMS/Fabric Composites

Abstract

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has a good elasticity but with a pretty low fracture toughness, which limits its use in practical applications. This paper presents a simple and low-cost approach to manufacture a PDMS/fabric composite through incorporating the commercially available stretchy plain weft-knitted nylon fabric into the PDMS matrix. The fracture toughness of the composite is much higher than that of pure PDMS with an increase up to 700%. The toughening mechanism, which can be attributed to the deformation localization induced fiber stretch and damage propagation in the PDMS matrix, is fully investigated. During cyclic loadings, the composite may exhibit a linear elastic response or a significant hysteresis depending on the stretch level. These results provide physical insights into the deformation mechanism of a soft fabric-reinforced composite and may offer practical routes to realize robust crack-insensitive PDMS.