Rigid filler particles in a rubber matrix: effective force constants by multipolar expansion

After reviewing our recently proposed analogy between filled phantom rubber s and the electrostatics of conductors in a dielectric medium, we describe a general and open-ended algorithm for the evaluation of the force constant (= capacity) matrix between spherical filler particles. The method is base d on the multipolar expansion of a charge distribution and of its electrost atic potential. Its performance is assessed by applying it to randomly disp ersed hard spheres at volume fractions between 0.1 and 0.3. (C) 2000 Elsevi er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.