Simulation of self‐organization processes in filled rubber

A typical property of filled rubber material, known as Mullins effect, is that prestraining leads to a reduction of stresses at strain levels smaller than the maximum strain in the loading history. This softening is related to the direction of the prestrain and therefore induces a material anisotropy. The microstructural process responsible for this effect is still subject of discussion. Here, a mechanism based on the self‐organization of weak physical links is proposed. The central idea states that these links organize into a pattern of different linkage densities leading to the observed properties. The theory is tested by a simulation program. In the simulation, several typical rubber properties can be reproduced, while clearly observing self‐organization of the model elements. (© 2017 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)