Simulation and experiment on rubber components using rebound energy approach with stress softening

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In the current design of rubber anti-vibration components in industries, important design parameters, that is, load–deflection and fatigue requirement, are referenced only on the loading part of the loading–unloading histories. Hence, the performance of the rubber components may be substantially different and could lead to unexpected effects. There are different energy levels and stress values during loading–unloading at the same load value due to stress softening in rubber-like materials. A new model was introduced into a function of strain energy density accounted for this Mullins effect. A key engineering constant in this model, that is, rebound resilience in terms of ratio of rebound energy over the initial loading energy, was measured and incorporated into the function of strain energy density. Two typical rubber-to-metal components, one of them with contact, designed for engineering applications are selected for the verification with good agreements. The new approach matched the results on load–deflection histories from the experiments during loading–unloading. It has also shown up to about 14% errors on stress calculations if unloading characteristics are not considered. There may be many more errors in design and applications when unloading characteristics are ignored. The existing hyperelastic models can be modified with this theory and incorporated with commercial finite element software. Further verifications are needed to enhance its suitability in industries for engineering design on rubber anti-vibration components. For the cases of very large strains, this theoretical model, in principle, can also be incorporated with a strain energy function including anisotropic effects, and further verification is needed.