The fundamentals of the thermodynamic theory of mixtures and continuum thermo-chemistry are reviewed for a mixture of water and polymer. A specific mixture which is mechanically elastic, where the strain states remain infinitesimal and where water concentration gradients are possible is considered. An expression for the partial pressure of water in the mixture is obtained from Gibbs relation based on certain assumptions regarding the thermodynamic state of the water in the mixture. Along with a simple diffusion equation, this partial pressure expression may be used to simulate the thermostructural behavior of polymer composite materials due to water in the free volumes of the polymer. These equations are applied to a specific polymer composite material during isothermal heating conditions. The thermal stresses obtained by the application of the theory are compared to measured results to verify the accuracy of the approach.

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Topics:
Polymer composites, Thermal stresses, Water, Polymers, Pressure, Chemistry, Diffusion (Physics), Heating
1.
Chung, T. J., 1988, Continuum Mechanics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
2.
Coleman
B. D.
, and
Gurtin
M. E.
,
1967
, “
Thermodynamics with Internal State Variables
,”
J. Chem. Phys.
, Vol.
47
, No.
2
, pp.
597
–
613
.
3.
deGroot, S. R., 1963, Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes, North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam.
4.
Fung, Y. C., 1965, Foundations of Solid Mechanics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
5.
Guggenheim, 1933, Modern Thermodynamics by the Methods of Willard Gibbs, Methuen and Company, Ltd., London.
6.
Hubbert, T. E., 1989, “Mechanical Properties of FM5055 Baseline Carbon Phenolic,” Southern Research Institute Report No. SRI-MME-89-1149-6071-23, Southern Research Institute, Birmingham, AL.
7.
Katchalsky, A., and Curran, P. F., 1965, Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics in Biophysics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
8.
Keenan, J. H., Keyes, F. G., Hill, P. G., and Moore, J. G., 1969, Steam Tables: Thermodynamic Properties of Water Including Vapor, Liquid and Solid Phases, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
9.
Kestin, J., 1966, A Course in Thermodynamics, Blaisdell Publishing Company, Waltham, MA.
10.
Meares, P., 1965, Polymers: Structure and Bulk Properties, D. Van Nostrand, London.
11.
Onsager
L.
,
1931
,
Phys. Rev.
, Vol.
37
, pp.
405
–
426
.
12.
Prigogine, I., 1955, Introduction to Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes, lnterscience Publishers (division of John Wiley and Sons, London).
13.
Segerlind, L. J., 1984, Applied Finite Element Analysis, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
14.
Stokes, E. H., 1990, “Equilibrated Moisture Contents of Several Carbon Phenolics as a Function of the Relative Humidity of the Conditioning Environment,” Southern Research Institute Report No. SRI-MME-90-291-6526-7, Southern Research Institute, Birmingham, AL.
15.
Sullivan
R. M.
,
1993
, “
A Coupled Solution Method for Predicting the Thermostructural Response of Decomposing, Expanding Polymeric Composites
,”
Journal of Composite Materials
, Vol.
27
, No.
4
, pp.
408
–
434
.
16.
Zienkiewicz, O. C., 1977, The Finite Element Method, McGraw-Hill, London.
This content is only available via PDF.
Copyright © 1996
 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
You do not currently have access to this content.