| The field of rubber elasticity has advanced significantly in the past several decades. New models of rubber elasticity have been proposed and adjusted to better match the behavior of elastomeric networks. The manner in which these properties change with age has, however, been relatively neglected. Theories developed for classical models of rubber elasticity have been largely forgotten. This work aims to incorporate an especially elegant treatment of the aging of rubbers brought forth for early classical models into modern theories of the behavior of rubbery polymeric networks.;Tobolsky's independent network hypothesis was developed during the early days of polymer physics to describe the aging of elastomers. It was shown rigorous for the classical descriptions of rubber elasticity, the affine and phantom models but has been neglected by more modern, more accurate models of rubber. This research has three main aspects. First, to corroborate the independent network hypothesis using simulations. Second, to incorporate the independent network concept into modern theories of rubber elasticity. Finally, to apply the effective crosslink density concept, developed for the classical models to account for crosslink decay, to the modern theories considered previously. Constituitive models incorporating the independent network hypothesis and the stress transfer effect is made possible by this research. |
