Experimental analysis on soft material contact problems by digital moiré and embedded-grating methods

Soft material is becoming increasingly important to many industries, which leads to the demand for a better understanding of its mechanical properties under large deformation. In this paper, a technique of integrating the digital moiré method and embedded-grating approach is presented for investigating mechanical behaviors of a vulcanized silicone rubber in contact with a wedge-shaped indenter. Two distinct deformation sectors are observed from the experimental result. A simple way of computing strain is also presented by analysing grid deformation within the framework of geometrical nonlinearity. Three regions were observed from strain distribution along the horizontal direction: the contact region, the sink-in region and the far-field region. Moreover, the extent of the sticky region and that of the slippy region within the contact interface are distinguished, which can provide realistic data for theoretical modelling. Based on the finite deformation elasticity theory, the distribution of contact pressure and shear stress over the contact interface are derived for prediction of possible cracks.