Research on the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Rubber Based on a Finite Element Simulation

The comprehensive performance of rubber products could be significantly improved by the addition of functional fillers. To improve research efficiency and decrease the experimental cost, the mechanical and thermal properties of carbon-fiber-reinforced rubber were investigated using finite element simulations and theoretical modeling. The simplified micromechanical model was constructed through the repeatable unit cell with periodic boundary conditions, and the corresponding theoretical models were built based on the rule of mixture (ROM), which can be treated as the mutual verification. The simulation results suggest that, in addition to the fiber volume fraction Vfc increasing from 10% to 70%, the longitudinal Young’s modulus, transversal Young’s modulus, in-plane shear modulus, longitudinal thermal expansion coefficient, and transversal thermal expansion coefficient changed from 2.31 × 1010 Pa to 16.09 × 1010 Pa, from 0.54 × 107 Pa to 2.59 × 107 Pa, from 1.66 × 106 Pa to 10.11 × 106 Pa, from −4.98 × 10−7 K−1 to −5.89 × 10−7 K−1, and from 5.72 × 10−4 K−1 to 1.66 × 10−4 K−1, respectively. The mechanism by which Vfc influences the properties of carbon-fiber-reinforced rubber was revealed through the distribution of Von Mises stress. This research will contribute to improving the performance of carbon-fiber-reinforced rubber and promote its application.