Study on determination of durability analysis process and fatigue damage parameter for rubber component

Abstract

Rubber components, which have been widely used in the automotive industry as anti-vibration components for many years, are subjected to fluctuating loads, often failing due to the nucleation and growth of defects or cracks. To prevent such failures, it is necessary to understand the fatigue failure mechanism for rubber materials and to evaluate the fatigue life for rubber components. The objective of this study is to develop a durability analysis process for vulcanized rubber components, that can predict fatigue life at the initial product design step. The determination method of nonlinear material constants for FE analysis was proposed. Also, to investigate the applicability of the commonly used damage parameters, fatigue tests and corresponding finite element analyses were carried out and normal and shear strain was proposed as the fatigue damage parameter for rubber components. Fatigue analysis for automotive rubber components was performed and the durability analysis process was reviewed.

Influence of Al2O3 particles on the friction and wear behaviors of nitrile rubber against 316L stainless steel

“…Although the rapid wear of metal against polymers was observed in the 1960s, the influence of hard particles on the damage behaviors of contact pairs as well as its wear mechanism has remained unclear, especially for rubber and plastic seals (Vinogradov et al, 1965;Dasari et al, 2009). In addition, the tribological behavior of elastomers is greatly influenced by abrasives, including their shape, size, and particles properties, unlike metals or ceramics (Moon et al, 2011;Busse et al, 2011). Therefore, to optimize the design of seals to prolong their service life, the effect of hard particles on the tribological properties of soft rubber against the hard counterpart for rubber/metal must be clearly understood.…”

A method for modelling of fatigue life for rubbers and rubber isolators

“…For finite deformation analysis, Kim claims that the G–L strain is more appropriate to be a damage parameter for rubber fatigue than other kinds of strain measures, such as true strain and stretch ratio. This explains why the maximum principal G–L strain, instead of other strain measures, is used as the damage parameter for fatigue life prediction of rubber components in published literatures . The maximum principal G–L strain ε G is calculated using the maximum principal engineering strain ε E : Effective stressThe effective stress is proposed as a new damage parameter for rubber components by Luo .…”

“…This explains why the maximum principal G-L strain, instead of other strain measures, is used as the damage parameter for fatigue life prediction of rubber components in published literatures. [8][9][10] The maximum principal G-L strain ε G is calculated using the maximum principal engineering strain ε E 4 :…”

“…Using the fatigue life prediction models established from the experimental data of rubber specimens, the fatigue life of the typical rubber isolator is evaluated. The three fatigue models with different damage parameters are formulated in Eqs (10)(11)(12). The damage parameters including the strain energy density, the maximum principal G-L strain and the effective stress under the external loading conditions are calculated directly or indirectly from finite element model shown in Fig.…”

“…Many damage parameters are proposed or used to estimate the fatigue life of rubber materials or specimens, but the most widely used fatigue damage parameters for rubber components are the strain energy density (SED), the maximum principal Green–Lagrange (G–L) strain and the effective stress . In the year of 2004, Woo and Kim used the SED and the maximum principal G–L strain as damage parameters to predict fatigue life of an engine rubber isolator and found that the maximum principal G–L strain is more suitable than strain energy density as a damage parameter for fatigue life prediction of rubber isolators under finite deformation .…”