Numerical analysis of the heterogeneous ageing of rubber products

Start Page
155
End Page
160
Citation
Constitutive Models for Rubber VII: 155-160 (2011)
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85134963473
Publisher
CRC Press
ISBN
978-1-466-55399-6
Ageing of elastomeric materials is an important subject in product development concerning lifetime prediction. Because of environmental influences like temperature, oxygen, radiation and similar conditions rubber and elastomers will change their material properties and hence affect the lifetime. The reason for this material change is the modification of the polymer network. In case of sulphur cured natural rubber it can result in hardening of the material and pronounced surface hardening for thick-walled products. This is known as the Diffusion-Limited Oxidation effect (DLO) when oxidation is the key environmental influence. This paper describes a model which is designed to calculate the change in network density caused by thermo-oxidative ageing and the required measurements for the parameterisation.
DDC Class
620: Engineering