Mathebela, LebogangSigwadi, RLekwana, TNgwangwa, HPandelani, TNemavhola, FModungwa, Dithoto M2025-10-302025-10-302024-09http://hdl.handle.net/10204/14450The mechanical properties of hair fiber vary with anatomical variation and for different ethnic groups. The development of material parameters is essential for accurate development of computational models for detailed studying of hair fiber behaviour. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the material parameters in hair mechanics using selected hyperelastic constitutive models. The nonlinear hyperelastic constitutive models were used to estimate the material parameters of the single curly hair fiber from the stress-strain nonlinear curve obtained from the tensile raw data subjected to axial loading. The three best fitting nonlinear hyperelastic model were selected, namely Polynomial Model, Mooney-Rivlin Model and Yeoh Model based. Several parameters and statistical measures including C10, R, R2, NE, NRMSE, SA and SE were utilised to compare the performance of each hyperelastic model. Each model was assessed using different strain rate of 100 and 10-2. s-1 strain rate. The best model that captures the axial tensile behaviour is Polynomial model with the R2 parameter higher than 91 % followed by MooneyRivlin model 85 % then Yeoh model at 83 %.The material parameters could be useful in the development of computational models for studying the effect of environment on human. The model with the best fit is polynomial model followed by Mooney-Rivlin then Yeoh model. The best model was selected based on the Evaluation Index [EI] and the study suggest that the new model can be introduced into future studies to check the overall performance of the model not only by assessing the model based on the R2 parameter but also to ensure that the objective function of the model is within the required limit.FulltextenCurly fibersMaterial parametersConstitutive modellingHyperelastic modelHair mechanicsConference Presentationn/a