Using a pattern-based homogenization scheme for modeling the linear viscoelasticity of nano-reinforced polymers with an interphase

• Linear viscoelasticity of a nano-reinforced polymer is estimated by micromechanics.
• The interphase at the filler-matrix interface is taken into account.
• The impact of microstructure parameters is studied by using morphological patterns.
• Microstructure parameters include particle size distribution and particle dispersion.
• The effect of the interparticle distance distribution is also studied.

The self-consistent model based on morphological representative patterns is applied to the realistic case of the linear viscoelasticity of polymers reinforced by elastic nano-particles coated with a viscoelastic interphase. This approach allows to study the effect of such microstructure parameters as particle dispersion, particle size distribution and interparticle distance distribution. Under the assumption that the interphase has the same thickness around all reinforcing particles, it is shown that the particle size distribution has little effect on the effective properties of the heterogeneous material, whereas the particle dispersion and the interparticle distance distribution have stronger impacts.

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