Molecular- and domain-level microstructure-dependent material model for nano-segregated polyurea

Purpose – Polyurea is an elastomeric two-phase co-polymer consisting of nanometer-sized discrete hard (i.e. high glass transition temperature) domains distributed randomly within a soft (i.e. low glass transition temperature) matrix. A number of experimental investigations reported in the open literature clearly demonstrated that the use of polyurea external coatings and/or internal linings can significantly increase blast survivability and ballistic penetration resistance of target structures, such as vehicles, buildings and field/laboratory test-plates. When designing blast/ballistic-threat survivable polyurea-coated structures, advanced computational methods and tools are being increasingly utilized. A critical aspect of this computational approach is the availability of physically based, high-fidelity polyurea material models. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In the present work, an attempt is made to develop a material model for polyurea which will include the eff...