Research on Temperature and Strain Rate Dependent Viscoelastic Response of Polyvinyl Butaral Film

The mechanical behavior of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) film plays an important role in windshield crashworthiness and pedestrian protection and should be depth study. In this article, the uniaxial tension tests of PVB film at various strain rates (0.001 s^-1, 0.01 s^-1, 0.1 s^-1, 1 s^-1) and temperatures (-10°C, 0°C, 10°C, 23°C, 40°C, 55°C, 70°C) are conducted to investigate its mechanical behavior. Then, temperature and strain rate dependent viscoelastic characteristics of PVB are systematically studied. The results show that PVB is a kind of temperature and strain rate sensitive thermal viscoelastic material. Temperature increase and strain rate decrease have the same influence on mechanical properties of PVB. Besides, the mechanical characteristics of PVB change non-linearly with temperature and strain rate. Finally, two thermal viscoelastic constitutive model (ZWT model and DSGZ model) are suggested to describe the tension behavior of PVB film at various strain rates and temperatures. Tension response of PVB at 0°C-70°C is simulated based on ZWT model, while tension response of PVB at -10°C is described using DSGZ model. The fitting results show good agreement with its corresponding experimental results. Results may provide basic experimental data and theoretical support to explore energy absorbing characteristics and safety design of PVB laminated glass.