Abstract
The authors conducted a study of aging effect on natural rubber bearings actually used in a seismically isolated building for almost ten and twenty years. First, compressive creep and mechanical characteristics such as vertical stiffness and horizontal stiffness were measured. Various characteristics of the rubber material such as hardness, strength and adhesion to steel plates were investigated after the bearing was cut into pieces. Test results of the rubber bearings showed that the creep fitted with a suggested predicting equation and that vertical stiffness of the bearing increased less than twenty percent to the initial value, while horizontal stiffness increased about ten percent. Also the test results of the rubber material showed no obvious change in mechanical characteristics and adhesion to the steel plates. This study led to a conclusion that the natural rubber bearings after about twenty years in use had considerable durability under a severe environmental condition.
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