Torsion and Extension of Functionally Graded Mooney–Rivlin Cylinders

Abstract We analytically study finite torsional and extensional deformations of rubberlike material circular cylinders with the two material moduli in the Mooney–Rivlin relation assumed to be continuous functions of the undeformed radius. It is shown that under null resultant axial load on the end faces the cylinder length increases upon twisting. Furthermore, when the two moduli are affine functions of the radius the inhomogeneity parameters can be found to have the maximum shear stress occur at a pre-determined interior point. Whereas the radial stress is finite at the center of a cross-section of a homogeneous material cylinder, it may have large values for an inhomogeneous material cylinder. The closed-form solutions provided herein for the two moduli having affine, power-law and exponential functions of the radius should benefit numerical analysts verify their algorithms and engineers design soft material robots for improving their performance under torsional loads.