Mechanical responses of filled thermoplastic elastomers

In this paper, several mechanical responses of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filled with nano-scale attapulgite (AT) particles, including cyclic loading-unloading behavior, dynamic mechanical behavior and stress relaxation have been investigated. With the addition of AT, it is noticed that the strength, modulus and stress relaxation time of TPU increased significantly compared to that of unfilled materials. It is also observed that, whether filled or unfilled TPU, pronounced inelastic mechanical features such as Mullins effect, residual strain and hysteresis, occurred mainly during the first load loop, but became more notable with AT increase.