Accepted Manuscript

Anisotropic mechanical properties and constitutive relations of PTFE coated

glass fibers

Zhang Yingying, Xu Shanshan, Xue Jigang, Zhang Qilin

PII: S0263-8223(17)31329-6
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2017.07.076
Reference: COST 8731

To appear in: Composite Structures

Received Date: 26 April 2017

Revised Date: 2 July 2017
Accepted Date: 21 July 2017

Please cite this article as: Yingying, Z., Shanshan, X., Jigang, X., Qilin, Z., Anisotropic mechanical properties and
constitutive relations of PTFE coated glass fibers, Composite Structures (2017), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.compstruct.2017.07.076

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 Anisotropic mechanical properties and constitutive relations of PTFE coated

glass fibers

ZHANG Yingying1 XU Shanshan2 XUE Jigang3 ZHANG Qilin4

1. Doctor, Associate Professor, State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of

Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou Jiangsu, 221116, China. (Corresponding

author). Email: zhangyingying85@163.com

2. Master Degree Candidate, State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics

and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou Jiangsu, 221116, China

3. Master Degree Candidate, State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics

and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou Jiangsu, 221116, China

4. Doctor, Professor, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

Abstract: This paper presents the anisotropic mechanical properties and constitutive relations of PTFE

(Polytetrafluoroethene) coated glass fibers. First, the monotonous and cyclic tests are carried out, in which the effects of

stress amplitude and bias angle are considered. Then, the decomposition of material strain during the cyclic tests is

studied and the predicted models are also discussed. Finally, an anisotropic constitutive relation is proposed to predict the

off-axial creep behaviors. Results show that the tensile behaviors of PTFE coated glass fibers are anisotropic, which is

mainly related with the crimp degree of woven structure. The material deformation can be divided into three parts, elastic

deformation, recoverable viscous deformation and unrecoverable viscous deformation. The bias angle and stress

amplitude have significant effects on the cyclic tensile behaviors. After unloading, the total residual strain has decreased

about 90% in the first 3 days. The final unrecoverable strain of 45 specimen is the highest, about 30 times of that of warp

specimen, or 8 times of that of weft specimens. Besides, the revised Burgers model can be used to describe the cyclic

tensile behaviors. Finally, the proposed anisotropic constitutive relation can be used to predict the creep behaviors at any

directions.

1
Keywords: Anisotropy; PTFE coated glass fibers; ratcheting behaviors; strain decomposition; constitutive relation

1 Introduction

Tensioned membrane structures have been widely used in large-span spatial structures for many years. It can afford

excellent architectural expressions and large application spaces[1][2][3]. As typical flexible structures, the stiffness of

tensioned membrane structures is mainly achieved by the prestress and the curvature form. Coated fabrics are principal

materials used in tensioned membrane structures, for example, PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) coated glass fibers. The

PTFE coated glass fibers have high tensile strength, but low tear strength, due to high strength and fragility of glass fibers.

Besides, the impervious Teflon coating makes it resistant to staining and repels airborne particulates and chemicals that

adhere to other materials. It becomes the most reliable for large permanent membranes under severe loading conditions.

Complex material responses under various loadings make the design more complicate. Therefore, both material

nonlinearity and geometrical nonlinearity can be observed in the mechanical responses of tensioned membrane

structures[4][5].

The design and analysis of membrane structure is a complex process, including form-finding analysis, stress state

analysis, pattern cutting design and construction process analysis. In actual engineering, the membrane surface always

suffers cyclic loading, for example wind load. Under cyclic loading, it may give rise to the residual deformation and reduce

the membrane prestress, which may lead to loss of global rigidity. In the construction process, the membrane materials are

stretched to the service state by applying the prestress in the boundary. Therefore, in the pattern cutting design, the

membrane materials should be transformed from the service state to the zero stress state by incorporating the interaction

between the fabric membrane and other structural elements in tension fabric membrane structures[1][6]. Due to the

nonlinear and viscoelastic properties of membrane materials, the shrinkage compensation ratio is introduced in the pattern

cutting design. Obviously, the shrinkage compensation ratio is related with the design stress state and improper value will

2
affect the final forms of membrane structures[7][8].

The determination of shrinkage compensation ratio is a key and complex technology and there are few published

references about this aspect. In actual engineering, the determination of shrinkage compensation ratio is always got by

experience or simple tests and it is always the secret technology of many companies. The European design

recommendations proposed a method that based on the biaxial cyclic tests by incorporating the effects of temperature and

time[1]. However, this method has a strict requirement on the test equipment. The Japanese researchers also conducted the

biaxial cyclic tests to get the shrinkage compensation ratio, but the corresponding test protocols are different from that of

the European recommendations[9][10][11]. Some researchers studied the shrinkage compensation ratio by uniaxial tests

based on the viscoelastic models [7][12][13][14][15][16]. Among them, the cyclic test and creep/stress relaxation tests

are common methods to evaluate the shrinkage compensation ratio.. However, because the creep/stress relaxation tests

always take too long time, the cyclic tensile test may be an effective method to analyze the shrinkage compensation ratio.

There are some references on the mechanical behaviors of coated fabrics under cyclic loading. Zhang[17].analyzed

the mechanical properties of PTFE coated fabrics under uniaxial cyclic loading and discussed the comparisons between

the tensile behaviors of the materials without initial loading and after cyclic loading. Ambrozaik carried out series of tests

on the mechanical behaviors of PVDF coated fabrics under different loading protocols and analyzed the main mechanical

parameters including tensile strength, elastic modulus and Poisson ratio[18][19][20]. Chen presented an experimental

study to determine the tensile properties of the envelope fabric Uretek3216A under monotonous and cyclic loading and

analyzed the influences of the uniaxial loading cycle and the determination options with different stress ratios[21][22].

From above, all the previous researches are on the material properties of on-axial specimens that are prepared by cutting

along the yarn orientations. As we know, the membrane materials are always under complex stress states, due to complex

structural forms. Besides, the shear stress plays an important role in the form-finding and cutting pattern

3
design[23][24][25][26].

As mentioned previously, some researchers always use the classic viscoelastic models to describe the viscoelasticity

of coated fabrics and analyze the shrinkage compensation ratio, for example, three-component model, classic Maxwell

model, and Fractional Maxwell model, etc. Some recent researches show that significant unrecoverable deformations can

be observed after cyclic loadings, but most of the classic models can only reflect the elastic deformation and recoverable

viscous deformation[7][17]. Therefore, it is necessary to study the cyclic tensile behaviors of off-axial specimens under

different loading protocols and obtain the proper constitutive relation models.

This paper presents the off-axial tensile behaviors of PTFE coated glass fibers under cyclic loading. First, the

monotonous and cyclic off-axial tensile tests with different bias angles and stress amplitudes are carried out. Then, the

effects of stress amplitude and bias angle on the material ratcheting behaviors are discussed. Finally, the material strain

decompositions are analyzed and the Burgers model is chosen to predict the cyclic tensile behaviors. The results can

provide the references for the design of membrane structures.

2 Materials and methodology

The FGT-600 produced by Chukoh Company is taken as the research object. It is woven planarly, with the thickness of

0.6 mm, tensile strength of 4200/3500 N/5cm (warp/weft), strain at break of 5/10% and tear strength of 300/300 N. The

off-axial specimens are prepared by cutting the specimens with bias angles of 0, 30, 45, 60 and 90 from the warp

direction. According to DIN 53334-1981[27], the specimen is with the length of 300mm, the width of 50mm, and the gauge

length of 200mm.

Fig. 1 Uniaxial tensile tests

The tests are mainly to study the effects of stress amplitude and bias angles on the material tensile properties and

discuss the material ratcheting behaviors and material residual strain after complete unloading. The tests are carried out by

4
the universal tension machine. The loading protocol is as follows. The material is first tensioned to the maximum stress and

then unloaded to the minimum stress. The ratcheting strain and elastic modulus is obtained from the tests to analyze the

material cyclic behaviors. Five bias angles are conducted, including 0, 30, 45, 60 and 90, respectively.

Four stress amplitudes are conducted in this test. Four stress amplitudes are chosen based on the monotonous tensile

curves and they are named as S1, S2, S3, S4. They are the intermediate value of the linear phase (A, the upper limit of

S1), the maximum value of the linear phase (B, the upper limit of S2), 1/5 of the tensile strength (C, the upper limit of

S3), and 1/4 of tensile strength (D, the upper limit of S4). They are shown in Table. 1.

Table. 1 Stress amplitudes used in the cyclic tests

Upper limit of stress amplitude (kN/m)

Bias angle /
S1 S2 S3 S4

0 12 16 26 32

30 4 6 13 16

45 4 8 12.4 18

60 4 6.2 11.4 14

90 8 14 22 26

After cyclic tests, the specimens are completely unloaded and the elongations of specimens are recorded after the

final strain is stable. According to the measured data, the test time is 70 days. The nominal stress and nominal strain is

used in this analysis. The nominal stress is got by dividing the tensile force by the width of the specimens, while the

nominal strain is got by dividing the displacement by the gauge distance of gripped ends, as shown in Fig. 1.

The specimens were stretched to the defined stress 4kN/m with the tensile rate of 2N/s, and then the stress

relaxation test and creep test were carried out. The test time of stress relaxation is 12h, and the time of creep test is 24h,

which can guarantee to achieve the stable state. Due to uneven stress and strain, the nominal stress and nominal strain are

used in the analysis of off-axis tests. The nominal stress is got by dividing the tensile force by the width of the specimens,

5
while the nominal strain is got by dividing the displacement by the gauge distance of gripped ends.

3 Results and discussions

3.1 Monotonous and cyclic off-axial tests

Fig. 2 Off-axial tensile curves

Fig. 3 Woven structure of the substrate

Fig. 2 shows the monotonous off-axial tensile curves of PTFE coated fabrics. It can be seen that the tensile strength in

warp (0 direction) is the highest and the strain at break is the lowest. Besides, the tensile strength in weft (90 direction) is

a little lower than that in warp. The secant slope of tensile curve in warp is the highest, while that in 45 direction is the

lowest. This is mainly related with the woven structure shown in Fig. 3. The main loading carrier is the substrate yarns

which are imbedded in the perpendicular yarns regularly. For plain woven fabrics, the crimp degree of warp yarns is low,

close to 0, while the crimp degree of weft yarns is high. Therefore, during the tension process, the deformations of weft

yarns are higher than those of warp yarns, because the weft yarns should overcome the crimp degrees first[28][29]. After

the weft yarns are tensioned straight, the tensile behaviors of the warp and the weft are similar, just as shown in Fig. 2. For

the bias specimens (30, 45 and 60), the yarn orientations are not parallel to the loading directions. The warp and weft

yarns work together and significant deformations can be observed. With bias angle increasing, the tensile strength

decreases and the strain at break increases. For the specimens of 45 direction, the tensile strength is the lowest and the strain

at break is the highest.

Fig. 4 shows the off-axial cyclic curves of FGT-600 with different stress amplitudes. The ratcheting behaviors mainly

refer the strain accumulations in the cyclic tests with asymmetric stress amplitudes. The ratcheting strain and elastic

modulus are the main indexes to address the material ratcheting behaviors.

Fig. 4 Off-axial cyclic tensile curves with different stress amplitudes(a) 0 (b) 30 (c) 45 (d) 60 (e) 90

6
 From Fig. 4, the tensile curve in the first cycle is different from those of the following cycles. Besides, the loading

curves are also different from the unloading curves. This is because for the viscoelastic materials, the stress and strain is out

of phase when suffering the alternating loads. Then, the viscosity and energy dissipations can be observed. When the stress

amplitude increases, the loading curves become more nonlinear and significant plastic deformations can be observed after

unloading.

In the first cycle, the loading curve in warp is a little concave, while that of other directions is first convex and then

concave. The degrees of concave and convex reflect the variations of the material tensile stiffness, which is also related

with the woven structures, just as shown in Fig. 3. As we know, the crimp levels in the warp and weft yarns are indeed

complementary. When the crimp level in the warp increases, the crimp level in the fill decreases and vice versa[6][30].

During the loading process, in the initial, the crimp degree is high and the tensile stiffness is low. During the loading

process, the crimp degree decreases and the tensile stiffness increases. With cycle number increasing, the loading curves

gradually become linear, the new-added unrecoverable strain deceases, while the total ratcheting strain increases. With

stress amplitude increases, the new-added ratcheting strain and hysteresis area increases. Significant cyclic hardening

phenomenon and ratcheting behaviors can be observed. For the ratcheting strain, the highest is 45 specimen and the

lowest is the warp specimen, which is related with the woven structure.

3.1.1 Elastic modulus

Fig. 5 Determination of the elastic modulus

Elastic modulus is the important index to reflect the material deformation resistance, which is also related with the

material energy dissipation ability. The secant slope of cyclic tests is considered as the elastic modulus by the least square

method. For the nonlinear curves, the tensile curves are divided into several parts and the interval of every part is 3 kN/m.

Every part can be considered as linear and the secant slope is considered the corresponding elastic modulus, as shown in

Fig. 5.

7
Fig. 6 Relationship between average elastic modulus and cycle number with different stress amplitudes a0b30

c45d60e90

The relationship between loading elastic modulus and cycle number are shown in Fig. 6. With cycle number

increasing, the elastic modulus increases fast in the initial and then tends to be constant after several cycles. With stress

amplitude increasing, the average elastic modulus increases. The elastic modulus of bias specimens (30, 45 and 60) are

significantly lower than the on-axial specimens (0 and 90). For the on-axial specimens, the yarns are under pure tensile

and the main deformation is tensile deformation. For the off-axial specimens, the yarns are under the interaction of shear

and tensile, while the deformation is the combination of shear deformation and tensile deformation.

During the loading process, the deformations of fibers are mainly related with the primary valence bond in the

molecular and the secondary valence bond in the chain, as well as the fracture of secondary valence bond. Energy

dissipation and strain hardening phenomenon appear when the secondary valence bond re-forms. In the unloading process,

after the external force is removed, the remaining secondary valence bond and the primary valence bond in the molecular is

favorable for the recovery of fiber deformations. However, this process can be affected by the blocking of the newly formed

secondary valence bond. Therefore, the material deformation is composed of instantaneous elastic deformation,

recoverable viscous deformation and unrecoverable viscous deformation.

In the unloading phase, the strain increases slightly first and then decreases rapidly, which is a typical performance of

viscosity. With cycle number increasing, this phenomenon gradually disappears. The unloading elastic modulus in weft is

lower in the initial and increases significantly after the first two cycles. This delayed response of mechanical behaviors is

related with the woven structure of the substrate, as well as the unbalances between the molecular response of polymers

and external loads. With cycle number increasing, the balance between molecular response of polymers and external loads

is achieved and the delayed response disappears.

8
3.1.2 Ratcheting strain
Fig. 7 Strain schematic diagram of tensile curves

The ratcheting behaviors are important performances of coated fabrics under cyclic tensile tests, as shown in Fig. 7.

It can reflect the variations of material stiffness and the accumulation of plastic deformations. The ratcheting strain r is

defined as the average value of the maximum and minimum strain in every cycle. The relationships between ratcheting

strain and cycle number under different stress amplitudes are shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 8 Relationship between ratcheting strain and cycle number with different stress amplitudesa0b30c45

d60 e90

From Fig. 8, with cycle number increasing, the ratcheting strain increases and the increasing rate gradually slows

down and tends to a constant. The new-added residual strain in every cycle decreases and the material hardening

phenomenon is observed. The plastic deformation is the main reason for the fatigue damage under various loading

protocols. In the initial, the ratcheting strain increases fast. With stress amplitude increasing, the final stable ratcheting

strain increases. For the final stable ratcheting strain, the lowest is the 0 specimen (warp) and the highest is the 45

specimen. It should be noticed that, even if the stress amplitude is low, the ratcheting strain can be observed, which also

means the appearance of unrecoverable deformation.

3.1.3 Strain decomposition

Just as previously mentioned, the material deformation can be divided into three parts, elastic deformation,

recoverable viscous deformation and unrecoverable viscous deformation. The residual strain is composed of recoverable

viscous strain and unrecoverable viscous strain. As shown in Fig. 7, the instantaneous decreased strain after unloading is

considered as the elastic strain, while the remaining strain is considered as the combination of recoverable viscous strain

and unrecoverable viscous strain. The unrecoverable viscous strain can be obtained as the final residual strain after

unloading and long-term placing, as shown in Fig. 9. The recoverable viscous strain can be got by subtracting the plastic

strain from the remaining strain. The ratcheting strain mentioned above is composed of elastic strain and viscous strain.
9
Fig. 9 Relationship between residual strain and placing time t with different stress amplitudesa0b30c45

d60e90

In order to study the residual strain after unloading, the relationship between the residual strain p and placing time t is

obtained, as shown in Fig. 9. In the initial, the total residual strain decreases fast and then the decrease rate decreases

gradually. In the first 3 days, the total residual strain has decreased about 90%, compared with the initial residual strain

after unloading. After about 15 days placing, the material residual strain tends to be constant and remains almost

unchanged in the following. With stress amplitude increases, the final residual strain increases. Besides, even when the

stress amplitude is low, the residual strain can be observed. The unrecoverable deformation appears under cyclic loading

may lead to the fatigue failure of membrane structures. The final residual strain of warp specimen is also the lowest, due to

the woven structure, which is also the unrecoverable viscous strain. The final residual strain of weft specimen is a little

higher than the warp. The final residual strain of 45 specimen is the highest, about 30 times of the warp specimen, or 8

times of the weft specimens. With stress amplitude increasing, the residual strain increases and it shows good linear

relationship with the placing times logarithm.

Fig. 10 Strain decompositions under different stress amplitudesa0b30c45d60e90

Fig. 10 shows that for all the bias angles, the elastic strain shows the linear relationship with the stress level. The

secant slope is the corresponding tensile modulus in that direction. The unrecoverable viscous strain also shows linear

with the stress level, while the recoverable viscous strain shows no significant variations. No matter what the stress level

is, the unrecoverable viscous strain can be observed after cyclic tensile tests.

3.1.4 Prediction model

There are several common viscoelastic constitutive models used for the engineering materials, for example,

three-component model, classic Maxwell model, and Fractional Maxwell model, etc. The Burgers model, always called as

four-component-model, is a combination model composed by a Maxwell model and a Kevin model. It can consider the
10
elastic deformation, recoverable viscous deformation and unrecoverable viscous deformation[31].Based on the above

cyclic tensile curves and preliminary model comparisons, the burgers model is chosen to predict the cyclic tensile curves

of PTFE coated glass fibers.

Fig. 11 Burgers model

The differential expressions of Burgers model is got as follows.

E E E EE
E2
+ 2

= 2

+ 1 + 1 + 2
+ 1 2
E1 1 2 2 1 2
(1)
( 0 ) = E1 ( 0 )
+ +

+ 2 1 1
( 0 ) = E1 ( 0 ) E1 + ( 0 )

+ +

1 2

The equations of Burgers models for the loading and unloading process can be derived as follows.
(1) Loading process
The Burgers model is consist of Maxwell element and Kelvin element. Therefore, the strain can be obtained as
follows.
k k
For Maxwell element, if = I ( t ) = kt ,
1 (t ) = + t (2)
E1 1

k 2 k
1 (t ) = t + t + C1 (3)
21 E1

k 2 k
The boundary condition is t=0, =0 , 1 (t ) = t + t (4)
21 E1

Where, is the stress, t is the loading time, k is loading rate, 1 is the strain of Maxwell element, E1 is the elastic

modulus of spring, 1 is the viscosity coefficient of viscous element 1, and C1 is the constant.

E2 k
For Kelvin model, kt = E22 +2
2 ,
2 + 2 = t (5)
2 2
E2

2
t k k
2 (t) = Ce + t 22 (6)
E2 E2
E
k 2 t k k
The boundary condition is t=0, =0 , 2 (t) = 22 e 2 + t 22 (7)
E2 E2 E2

11
 Where, 2 is the strain of Kelvin element, E2 is the elastic modulus of spring, 2 is viscosity coefficient of viscous

element 2, and C2 is the constant.

E2
2
2
t k 2 1 1
The total strain is as follows. (t) = 1(t ) + 2 (t) = k 2
e + t + ( + )kt k 22
E2 21 E1 E2 E2
E2
2
k2
1 2 1 1
=k 2
e + + ( + ) k 22 (8)
E2 2k1 E1 E2 E2

Where, 0 is maximum strain in the loading process and 0 is the maximum stress in the loading process.

2Unloading process

For unloading process, the initial boundary condition is different from the loading process.

The strain expression is as follows.

E2
2 ( 0 ) 1 2 1 1
k2
0 = k 2
e ( 0 ) + ( + )( 0 ) k 22 (9)
E
2 2k1 E1 E2 E2

The burgers model is used to predict the stress-strain curves in the cyclic tensile tests, as shown in Fig. 12. From the

small curve in the left, it can be seen that for the initial phase of loading process, the predictions are in good agreement

with the experimental data. However, in the final phase of the first loading process, there are large deviations between the

model predictions and experiment data. Thus, the final phase of the loading process is also the initial phase of the

unloading process. Therefore, in the unloading process, the prediction accuracy is not well. The main reason is that the

PTFE coated glass fibers are typical composite materials, consisting of coating and woven substrate. It performs complex

mechanical properties, which is different from other traditional materials. The classic Burgers model can not accurately

reflect the visco-elastic-plastic behaviors of coated fabrics. The proportion of elastic strain, recoverable viscous strain

and unrecoverable viscous strain is not the same as that in the Burgers model. Therefore, a revised coefficient is required

to adjust the proportion of elastic strain and viscous strain.

The revised Burgers model is as follows.

12
 E2
2
k 2
1 1 1 2
For loading process, =k 2
e + 2 + + k 2 (10)
E 2 2k1 E1 E2 E2
E2
2 k 2
( 0 ) 1 2 1 1 2
For unloading process, 0 = k
2
e ( 0 ) + + ( 0 ) k 2 . (11)
E 2 2 k1 E1 E2 E2

Where, and are the regulation coefficients.

Fig. 12 Comparisons between experiment data and predictions of burgers model & revised burgers model (0, 5N/s)

The revised Burgers model is used to simulate the cyclic tensile curves. The least square method is used to obtain

the proper parameters of revised Burgers model. The comparisons between experiment data and the predictions of

revised Burgers model are shown in Fig. 12. It can be observed that the revised burgers model can make a good

prediction of the cyclic tensile curves. In the predictions of classic Burgers model, most of the model predictions are

consistent with the experiment data. There are only some differences in the final phase of the first loading phase. After

adding two regulation coefficients, the revised Burgere model can sucessfully predict the full process of cyclic loading

tests. Then, the shrinkage compensation ratio can be obtained based on different construction tension protocols, boundary

conditions and the above constitutive relations.

Fig. 13. Comparisons between experiment data and predictions of revised burgers models

3.2 Anisotropic creep constitutive relation

3.2.1 Test results

The off-axial creep curves of PTFE coated fabrics are shown in Fig. 14. It can be seen that in the initial phase, the

strain developed significantly. With time increasing, the develop rate of creep strain decreases and the creep strain

reaches the final stable state. The change of creep strain in 0 direction is the lowest, and the development rate to the

stable strain is the fastest. The final stable strain at 15 directions is close to the 0 direction. The initial strains in 75 and

90 directions are similar, which are higher than 30 direction. The final creep strains in 75 and 90 directions are small

than the 30 directions, but larger than that of 0 direction. The creep strains in 45and 60 are the highest. The above

13
phenomenon is consistent with the uniaxial tensile curve of the membrane material, as shown in Fig. 15.

Fig. 14 Stress-strain curves of off-axial specimens during the creep tests

Fig. 15 Part of uniaxial tensile curves(when the stress is less than 4kN/m)

In order to observe the change of the creep strain, the creep elongation is defined in Eq. 12.

f 0
= 100% (12)
0

Where, f is the final stable strain, 0 is the initial strain.

The values for 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90are 22.04%, 31.29%, 57.65%, 60.59%, 49.82%, 50.48% and

31.36%. The relationships among them are :

 
0 < 15 < 90 < 75 < 60 < 30 < 45

The above relationship is related to the woven structure of coated fabrics. During the loading process, the force is

mainly carried by the base cloth fiber, while the warp fibers and weft fibers have different mechanical characteristics. In

0 direction, the tensile stiffness is high and the deformation is small. Therefore, the final stable strain in 0 direction is

small. In 90 direction, due to the woven structure, the initial stiffness is low and the deformation is large. Therefore, the

initial strain and strain elongation is larger than 0 direction. When the stress is less than 4kN/m, the highest deformation

appears in 60 direction. In the ultimate state, the maximum strain at break appears in 45 direction.

3.2.2 Anisotropic creep equation

For coated fabrics, the anisotropy of mechanical behaviors of woven substrates leads to the orthotropic creep potential.

Therefore, in order to describe the anisotropic properties, the creep potential can be defined based on the anisotropic plastic

equation and the flow rule.

According to the derivation of anisotropic plastic relation and flow rule,

ijc = g / ij d (13)

14
 Where the superscript "c" indicates creep.

The plastic flow function g is assumed quadratic in ij.

c
g = Sijkl ij kl (14)

Then,
ijc = 2Sijkl

c
kl d (15)

Where, ij is the stress tensor, cij is the strain tensor, and S cijkl is the compliance coefficients.

S11c S12c S13c 0 0 0

c c c
S12 S 22 S 23 0 0 0
S c c
S 23 S33c 0 0 0
S c = 13 c (16)
0 0 0 S 44 0 0
0 0 0 0 S55c 0

0 0 0 0 0 S66c

The above equation shows that to describe orthotropic plastic flow only needs nine independent coefficients.

The following definitions are introduced.

a11 = S11c / S22c ; a66 = S66c / S 22c ; a12 = S12c / S22c ;
= S 22

c
d*

Then, the incremental expressions for plane stress are as follows.

11c a1111 + a12 22

c

22 = a1211 + 22
(17)
c

12 a6612
Where,
is the scale factor.
The flow rule could have been derived directly by the flow function g as shown in eq.18.
1
g= a11 112 + 22
2
+ 2 a 66 122 + 2 a12 11 22 (18)
2
Then, the anisotropic creep potential function to be defined

1
f = g= a11 112 + 222 + 2a66 122 + 2a12 11 22 (19)
2

3.2.3 Effective stress and Effective strain

In general, for plane stress the plastic work increment is

15
 W
c = ij
ijc = 11
11c + 22
22c + 212
12c (20)

Substituting for the strain rate by the stress in eq.17, the work increment can be rewritten as follows.

W
c = ( a11 112 + 22
2
+ 2 a66 122 + 2 a12 11 22 )
= 2 g
(21)

The effective stress and effective plastic strain be defined as:

c =W
c = 2g
(22)

Further, the effective stress can be defined as follows.

2 2
= a11 112 + 222 + 2 a66 122 + 2 a12 11 22 = 2 g (23)
3
The effective plastic strain can be also defined as follows.

2

c =
(24)
3
Then, the rate of effective creep strain can be obtained as follows.

2 2 2 2 ( a11 a122 ) c 2

c =
3 ( a11 a122 )
(
11c ) + a11 (
22c ) + a66
(
)
12 2 a12 (
11c )(
22
c
) (25)

The unknown parameters (a11, a66, a12) in the potential can be determined using the uniaxial off-axis tests.

For uniaxial off-axial specimens, the stress can be obtained as follows.

11 = cos2 22 = sin2 12 = sin cos

Where, the warp direction is 1 direction, and the weft direction is 2 direction.

The effective stress and effective creep strain rate can be described as follows.

= H ( ) (26)

c

c = (27)
H ( )
If the loading protocol is assumed as proportional loading, then, the effective strain may be defined as

c
c = (28)
H ( )

Where, H ( ) = 3 ( a11 cos 4 + sin 4 + 2 ( a66 + a12 ) cos 2 sin 2 ) .

2 .

16
3.2.4 Effective creep strain

The total strain rate is shown in eq.29.

ij =
ije +
ijc (29)

Where the elastic strains eij is due to the instantaneous loads.

From the above equations, the creep strain is composed of time-independent strain and time-dependent strain.

The time-independent strain is the elastic strain, whereas the time-dependent strain is obtained by subtracting the

time-independent strain from the total strain. The stress-strain curves of all the specimens are shown in Fig. 14. By

subtracting the initial strain, the creep strain-time curves are shown in Fig. 16. They indicate that the coated fabrics

are typically anisotropic and nonlinear.

Fig. 16 Creep strain-time curves

In order to obtain the unknown parameters (a11, a66, a12) in H(), the unknown parameters can be obtained

according to the simplex minimization algorithm in MATLAB for unconstrained optimization solutions and test

data.

2 2

2

n
t
90t
t
t t
t
(30)
( a11 , a12 , a66 ) = 0
90 + + 0
t =1 3 3 3 H (  ) H (  ) 3

a11 a11
2 2 2 2

The optimal solution of the unknown parameters (a11, a12, a66) can be obtained under five different conditions

(= 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75).

0 degrees, 15 degrees, 90 degrees: a11=0.0383a12=0.0037a66=2.8085

0 degrees, 30 degrees, 90 degrees: a11=0.0383a12=0.0003a66=28.9503

0 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees: a11=0.0383a12=0.0169a66=54.613

0 degrees, 60 degrees, 90 degrees: a11=0.0383a12=0.0088a66=51.5013

0 degrees, 75 degrees, 90 degrees: a11=0.0383a12=0.0005a66=13.8442

17
 Through the above optimal solution, the value of the parameter a11 is the same in any case, and the H( ) is

only related to the sum of a12 and a66. If 22= a12+a66, then, relationship between 22 and the angle is shown in Table.

2.

Table. 2 The relationship between 22 and off-axis angle

Angle 15 30 45 60 75
22 2.8122 28.9506 54.6299 51.5101 13.8447

The effective creep strain can be obtained under different off-axis conditions, according to test data and Eq.28.

The comparison of the effective creep strain and test data is obtained, as shown in Fig. 17. Where, the dash-dotted

line is the creep test data of effective creep strain. It can be seen that all the creep strain can be transformed into one

effective creep curves by the parameters (a11, a12, a66).

Fig. 17 Comparisons between effective creep curves and experimental data

3.2.5 Anisotropic creep constitutive equation

In reference[32]the creep strain can be fitted by the effective creep strain rate with the form of power law

type, as follows.

c = A m t n

c
= nA m t n 1 (31)

Where, the coefficients A, m, and n are determined by fitting the experimental curve. The creep strain can be

obtained from the curve of 90 degree specimen. However, it should be noted that the creep equation of power law

may be not appropriate for describing the creep behavior of coated fabrics. Here, a simple exponential function

form of creep equation is proposed in this paper, based on the fractional exponential function, as shown in eq. 32.

b
c = A + ment (32)

Where the coefficients A, m, and n are determined by fitting the experimental curve.

The creep equation (32) can be extended for the effective creep strain using eq.28, as follows.

18
 b
c = A + ment (33)

Where A = A / H ( ) m = m / H ( ) .

The effective creep strain can be obtained based on the test data of 0 , 45 and 90 direction test data by eq.33.

The fitting curve is shown in Fig. 18.

Fig. 18 Fitting curves of creep curves

The parameters in the effective creep strain equation for any directions can be obtained, as shown in Table.

3.

Table. 3 Orthotropic material parameters and coefficients used for creep equation

Stress level Parameters A m n b

kN/m a11 a12 a66
4 0.0383 0.0169 54.613 1.115 -1.454 1.466 0.246

The effective creep strain equation is as follows

0.246
c =1.115 1.454 e1.466t (34)

The effective creep strain equation can be used to describe the relationship between the effective creep strain

and time in any direction.

The relationship c t can be converted into c t by using eq.28, as follows.

(
c = 0.267 0.349 e1.466t
0.246

) H ( ) (35)

Then, the relationship between parameter 22 and off-axis angle () is as follows.

(
a22 = 29.044 + 29.295 sin ( 30 ) / 39.159 ) (36)

The fitted curves are shown in Fig. 19.

Fig. 19 Relationship between parameter 22 and off-axis angle

The relationship between H() and angle can be obtained by introducing value a11and eq.36 into H().

H ( ) =
3
2
( ( ( ) )
0.0383cos4 + sin 4 + 2 29.044 + 29.295 sin ( 30 ) / 39.159 cos2 sin 2 ) (37)

19
In summary, the anisotropic creep constitutive equation can be obtained.

(
c = 0.267 0.349 e 1.466t
0.246

) 32 ( 0.0383 cos + sin + 2 ( 29.044 + 29.295 sin (( 30) ) / 39.159 ) cos sin )
4 4 2 2 (38)

The predicted creep curves under different directions (15, 30, 60 and 75) can be obtained as shown in Fig.

20. Where, the line is the predicted curves and the point lines are test data.

Fig. 20 Comparisons between predicted creep curves and experiment data

4 Conclusions

This paper presents the off-axial tensile behaviors of PTFE coated glass fibers under cyclic loading, in which the

effects of stress amplitude and bias angle are considered. The following conclusions can be obtained.

(1) The tensile behaviors of PTFE coated glass fibers are anisotropic, which is mainly related with the crimp degree

of woven structure. The tensile strength and elastic modulus in warp is the highest and the strain at break is the lowest.

Besides, the tensile strength in weft is a little lower than the weft. With bias angle increasing, the tensile strength and tensile

modulus decreases and the strain at break increases. For 45 specimens, the tensile strength is the lowest and the strain at

break is the highest.

(2) Significant viscous response and material hardening phenomenon can be observed in the cyclic tests, because of

the unbalances between the molecular response of polymers and external loads. After several cycles, the balance between

molecular response of polymers and external loads is achieved and the viscous response gradually disappears. With cycle

number increasing, the total ratcheting strain increases and the hysteresis loop area decreases. With stress amplitude

increasing, the ratcheting strain and elastic modulus increases. Even when the stress amplitude is low, the ratcheting

strain can be observed. After unloading, the total residual strain has decreased about 90% in the first 3 days. With stress

amplitude increasing, the final residual strain increases and shows good linear relationship with the stress amplitude. The

residual strain in warp is the lowest and that in 45 specimen is the highest. The residual strain of 45 specimen is the

20
highest, about 30 times of the warp, or 8 times of the weft, due to the woven structure.

(3) The material deformation is composed of instantaneous elastic deformation, recoverable viscous deformation and

unrecoverable viscous deformation. The classic Burgers can not make good predictions for the cyclic tensile behaviors of

PTFE coated glass fibers, due to complex internal structures of coated fabrics. The revised Burgers model can make good

predictions for the cyclic tensile behaviors of PTFE coated glass fibers, which can be references for the determination of

shrinkage compensation ratio.

(4) In the off-axial creep tests, the creep strain elongation is the lowest is 0 direction, while the highest is 45

direction. The anisotropic behaviors are mainly related to the woven structure of substrate. Based on the theory of

orthotropic composites, the relationship between elastic modulus, relaxation modulus & creep compliance and bias angle

is derived. Based on the plastic theory of anisotropic material and flow rule, the anisotropic constitutive relation was

obtained by introducing the creep potential function, the effective stress and the effective creep rate. Besides, the

membrane materials are under biaxial stress and the biaxial test method may be more appropriate. Further work will be

imposed on the biaxial tensile tests to study the anisotropic behaviors of coated fabrics.

Acknowledgement

The research described in this paper was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China

(Grant No. 51678563) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2015XKMS012). We

acknowledge the editors and reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

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Figure caption list

Fig. 1 Uniaxial tensile tests

Fig. 2 Off-axial tensile curves

Fig. 3 Woven structure of the substrate

Fig. 4 Off-axial cyclic tensile curves with different stress amplitudes (a) 0(b) 30 (c) 45(d) 60(e) 90

Fig. 5 Determination of the elastic modulus

Fig. 6 Relationship between average elastic modulus and cycle number with different stress amplitudes (a) 0(b) 30 (c)

45(d) 60(e) 90

Fig. 7 Strain schematic diagram of tensile curves

Fig. 8 Relationship between ratcheting strain and cycle number with different stress amplitudes (a) 0(b) 30 (c) 45(d)

60(e) 90

Fig. 9 Relationship between residual strain and placing time t with different stress amplitudes (a) 0(b) 30 (c) 45(d)

60(e) 90

Fig. 10 Strain decompositions under different stress amplitudes (a) 0(b) 30 (c) 45(d) 60(e) 90

Fig. 11 Burgers model

Fig. 12 Comparisons between model predictions and experiment data

Fig.13 Comparisons between experiment data and predictions of revised burgers models(1)(2)(3)(4) (5)

Fig. 14 Creep curves of off-axial specimens

Fig. 15 Part of uniaxial tensile curves(when the stress is less than 4kN/m)

Fig.16 Time dependent creep curves

Fig. 17 Comparisons between effective creep curves and experimental data

Fig. 18 Fitted curves of 90creep test

Fig. 19 Fitting curves of creep curves

Fig. 20 Relationship between parameter 22 and off-axis angle

Fig. 21 Comparisons between predicted creep curves and experiment data

25