LIFETIME PREDICTION OF ELASTOMERS - A UNIFICATION OF THE FRACTURE MECHANICS AND THE (WÖHLER) S-N-CONCEPT

Stefan Robin, Thomas Alshuth

Abstract

In the last ten years elastomers were more frequently used in complex technical fields which require high performance. Therefore it is very important to have an instrument to estimate the service life of these technical parts. At the moment there are two classical methods for service life prediction. Both are more or less adapted from metal parts engineering.<BR />Fracture mechanics uses the characteristic values of dynamic crack propagation experiments to calculate the load cycles to failure for different load amplitudes. The other method, based on the concept of Wöhler, measures the lifetime of a sample for different load amplitudes (fatigue to failure tests, s-n curves). Both are useful for specific applications. But for rubber materials they can lead to different results for the same material. In this work an approach is shown to combine the two classical methods and an attempt is made to explain the different results. A new concept for lifetime prediction will be presented.

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DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC15 - Experimental Mechanics

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