Mechanical Behaviour of Rubber Material with Consideration to Mullins Effect

A stress softening known as the Mullins effect is observed usually in rubberlike material after the first load. This paper describes an experimental test method for defining the nonlinear properties of rubber materials used for finite element analysis. Experimental observations have shown that the Mullins effect induces a permanent set and some anisotropy. To test the Mullins effect the mechanical preconditioning is suggested to stabilize the properties of rubber material. A stress-strain curve will change significantly when the rubber material is strained greater than the previous stabilized level. Therefore, material properties at maximum strain level are obtained to predict behavior of rubber products. To obtain the rubber material constants used for finite element analysis to understand the characteristics of automotive rubber parts, mechanical properties tests such as uniaxial tension, equ-biaxial tension and pure shear tests are required. When the load was repeatedly applied to the rubber specimen, the stress-strain relationship was greatest in the first and second cycles, and the larger the strain range, the more the stress was reduced. The material constants were obtained using the stress-strain data after the rubber specimen was stabilized. The value of stiffness decreased as the maximum strain range increased. The static stiffness of an automotive engine mount is calculated by nonlinear finite element analysis using the experimentally determined material constants and compared with the experimental results considering the mechanical preconditioning effect resulting in a good correlation.