Stress analysis of elastomeric materials at large extensions using the finite element method

Abstract

The finite element analysis newly developed is applied to stress and strain analyses around spherical holes in elastomers from small to very large deformations. The stress and strain distributions computed based on the strain-energy function of real elastomers measured through strip-biaxial testing agree well with the classical theoretical ones at small strain. At large extension, however, the maximum stress concentration factor increases and the maximum strain concentration factor decreases as strain increases. These tendencies will be increased more in carbon black-filled elastomers than in unfilled ones. The successful description for these phenomena can be achieved by mainly considering the non-linear properties in the stress-strain relation of elastomers which increase as extension increases and carbon black content increases.