An experimental investigation on the strain rate dependent mechanical response and associated self-heating of elastomers

Abstract

In this research, a comprehensive experimental investigation was performed on rubber materials to characterize the mechanical response and associated self-heating at different constant strain rates and deformation modes. Two different elastomeric materials RTV 630 and Flexane 94 were tested in four different deformation modes: uniaxial tension (UT), uniaxial compression (UC), planar tension (PT), and volumetric compression (VC) to capture the thermo-mechanical behavior of the materials at quasi-static (0.001 s⁻¹) to moderate (100 s⁻¹) strain rate loading. The experimental results were analyzed to determine the strain rates and strain levels at which the materials are susceptible to self-heating and associate key deformation modes (deviatoric or hydrostatic) contributing to the heat generation. Mechanical responses at different strain rates showed that both materials are strain rate sensitive and exhibit self-heating when the strain rate loading was 0.1 s⁻¹ or greater. The observed behavior was similar in all loading conditions except for volumetric compression, which indicates that the self-heating is dictated by the deviatoric component of deformation. Also, the quantification of the self-heating indicates that the heat energy loss was significant under uniaxial tension and compression deformation modes compared to other modes.