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Experimental characterization and mechanical modeling of additively manufactured TPU components of innovative seismic isolators

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Abstract

This work presents an experimental and mechanical study on the tensile response of 3D-printed thermoplastic polyurethane membranes, to be used as stretchable members of novel seismic isolators. The examined specimens have been 3D-printed by fused deposition modeling at the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory of the University of Salerno. Cyclic tests performed at different strain rates are employed to characterize the mechanical response of such members and the dependence of preconditioning effects on the recovery time and the initial pretension of the specimens. The presented results show a marked hysteretic response, the fast recovery of residual strains with time, and an appreciable increase of the tangent tensile modulus along the loading phase of the stress–strain curve with growing values of the applied strain rate.

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Acknowledgements

The great technical support received by Giuseppe Marchese and Antonella Serra (Proplast - Consorzio per la Promozione della Cultura Plastica, Via Roberto di Ferro, 86 - 15122 Alessandria—Italy) during the execution of laboratory tests is gratefully acknowledged.

Funding

This study was funded by Italian Ministry of University and Research PRIN 2017 Grant 2017J4EAYB.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy

    Julia de Castro Motta, Saeedeh Qaderi, Ada Amendola & Fernando Fraternali

  2. Department of Engineering, University of Naples ‘Parthenope’, 80143, Naples, Italy

    Ilenia Farina & Narinder Singh

Authors
  1. Julia de Castro Motta
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  2. Saeedeh Qaderi
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  3. Ilenia Farina
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  4. Narinder Singh
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  5. Ada Amendola
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  6. Fernando Fraternali
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Correspondence to Fernando Fraternali.

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de Castro Motta, J., Qaderi, S., Farina, I. et al. Experimental characterization and mechanical modeling of additively manufactured TPU components of innovative seismic isolators. Acta Mech 235, 1637–1648 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-022-03447-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-022-03447-5

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