Computational Design of Viscoelastic Gels with Tunable Mechanical Energy Dissipation

Abstract

The development of engineered materials that exhibit mechanical characteristics similar to biological tissues can enable testing the effect of ballistics and designing of protective equipment. The physical instability of existing tissue simulants over long times and ambient temperatures has propelled interest in using polymer gel systems that could potentially mimic the mechanical response of tissues. More generally, the capacity to tune the mechanical energy dissipation characteristics of such gels is of interest to a range of applications. The present work uses a computational approach to predict the material properties of such gels. A finite element model and simulation of an impact indentation test was developed, with the polymer gel properties simulated via a multiscale material modeling technique. The computational model was validated by comparing the simulated response to experimental data on polymer gels. The model was then used to predict the optimized material properties of the gels for use in diverse applications including tissue simulants.