See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/286300709

Theoretical and numerical modelling of unvulcanized rubber

Chapter · September 2011

DOI: 10.1201/b11687-20

CITATIONS READS

4 516

3 authors:

Hüsnü Dal Michael Kaliske

Middle East Technical University Technische Universität Dresden
89 PUBLICATIONS 1,418 CITATIONS 567 PUBLICATIONS 6,468 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Christoph Zopf
Technische Universität Dresden
17 PUBLICATIONS 255 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Hüsnü Dal on 07 January 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Theoretical and numerical modelling of unvulcanized rubber

Hüsnü Dal, Michael Kaliske & Christoph Zopf

Institut für Statik und Dynamik der Tragwerke, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

ABSTRACT: The forming process of unvulcanized rubber is of great interest. However, classical hyperelastic
models developed for cross-linked rubber do not apply to unvulcanized rubber due to the lack of crosslinks
giving the material its elasticity. Experiments show that unvulcanized rubber exhibits strong viscoplastic flow
without a distinct yield point accompanied with hardening. In this contribution, we propose a new constitu-
tive model suited for unvulcanized rubber. The kinematic structure of the model is based on the micro-sphere
model (see Miehe et al., JMPS 52:2617-2660, 2004). The computation of the stretch in the orientation direc-
tion follows the Cauchy-Born rule. The micro-sphere enables numerical integration over the sphere via finite
summation of the orientation directions corresponding to the integration points over the sphere. This structure
replaces the complex three-dimensional formulations, e.g. finite inelasticity models based on multiplicative split
of the deformation gradient, by a simpler and more attractive one-dimensional rheological representation at the
orientation directions. The rheology of the model consists of two parallel branches. The first branch consists of
a spring connected to a Kelvin element where the latter spring models the kinematic hardening. The dashpot
describes a time-independent endochronic flow rule based solely on the deformation history. The second branch
consists of a spring connected to a Maxwell element in parallel to a dashpot. The two dashpots in the latter
branch model the ground-state viscoelasticity and rate-dependent hardening phenomenon. Albeit its complex-
ity, the proposed rheology and the numerical implementation show promising results suitable for large scale
FE-based simulations.

1 INTRODUCTION served that the amount of hardening is also strongly

Rubber elasticity and inelasticity are active fields
of research since decades. However, to the authors’
knowledge, no substantial effort exists on the mod-
elling of unvulcanized rubber. Expansion of the sim-
ulation based design in all engineering processes in-
creased the interest not only on the constitutive be-
haviour of the end products but also on the material
behaviour of raw materials in parallel to the enhance-
ments in the process simulation techniques. Within
this context, we propose a one-dimensional rheol-
ogy for unvulcanized rubber and its three-dimensional
continuum extension within the context of the micro-
sphere model, see Miehe et al. (2004).
1.1 Rheology
The mechanical response of unvulcanized rubber is
quite dissimilar to vulcanized rubber. Experiments
demonstrate clearly that unvulcanized rubber is a
highly deformable material which shows yield sur-
face free equilibrium and non-equilibrium hysteresis
with hardening at large strains. Unlike the classical
viscoelastic behaviour of crosslinked rubber, it is ob-
rate dependent. The rheology of the model consists
of two parallel branches with endochronic and vis-
coelastic dashpots accommodated in parallel to non-
linear springs responsible for the hardening. In the
latter branch, the spring responsible for hardening is
serially connected to a viscous dashpot in order to ac-
count for the rate dependent post-yield hardening phe-
nomenon. In contrast to the crosslinked rubber, unvul-
canized rubber does not show ground-state elasticity
and material flows at very small strain rates without
a distinct yield surface. Three different characteristics
can be observed from experiments. Firstly, the mate-
rial shows an equilibrium hysteresis up to moderate
stretches which can be idealized by a serially con-
nected elastic spring and a dashpot element converted
from viscoelastic flow rule via the correspondence
principle, see Haupt (2000). Further loading leads to
post-yield hardening which is modeled via a spring
connected in parallel to the friction element. Further-
more, at elevated loading rates, one observes strong
rate effects around the thermodynamical equilibrium.
The rheology representing the complexities inherent
to the model is depicted in Fig. 2. Vulcanized rub-
ber consists of a network connected via cross-links
which gives the material the memory for the unde-
formed state upon removal of the mechanical load-
ing. Although unvulcanized rubber also posssesses a
degree of elasticity due to the entanglements, the ef-
fect is small. The behaviour is nonlinear, showing
significant equilibrium and non-equilibrium hystere-
sis. The cyclic loading of the material at low strain
rates (cf. Fig. 5) shows that flow occurs even at very
small deformation levels without a distinct yield sur-
face. Further loading leads to kinematic hardening.
Unvulcanized rubber shows significant rate depen-
dency as depicted in the uniaxial tension tests, see Fig.
3a. The multistep relaxation test (cf. Fig. 4a) shows
that the stresses do not fully relax reinforcing the hy-
pothesis of existence of an equilibrium elastoplastic
branch. Moreover, uniaxial tension experiments (Fig.
3a) clearly demonstrate a post-yield hardening regime
which is strongly rate-dependent. Within this con-
text, two discrete mechanisms are proposed for the
description of the rheology of the material. For the
equilibrium hysteresis observed at very small load-
ing rates, a spring is connected serially to a Kelvin
element, where an endochronic dashpot replaces the
classical viscous dashpot via correspondence princi-
ple, see Haupt (2000). The spring in the Kelvin el-
ement models the rate-independent post-yield kine-
matic hardening regime. The latter branch consists
of a non-linear spring connected serially to a system
consisting of a Maxwell element in parallel to a vis-
cous dashpot. The dashpot parallel to the Maxwell
branch is responsible for the rate dependence of the
initial loading whereas the dashpot in the Maxwell
branch is responsible for the rate dependent kinematic
hardening.
2 A MICROMECHANICAL MODEL FOR
UNVULCANIZED RUBBER
e3
r3
ϑr
e2
ϕ r1
r2
e1
Figure 1. The unit micro-sphere and the orientation vector r =
r1 e1 + r2 e2 + r3 e3 where r1 = cos ϕ sin ϑ, r2 = sin ϕ sin ϑ and
r3 = cos ϑ in terms of spherical coordinates {ϕ, ϑ}, respectively.
2.1 Kinematic description
The key aspect of the micro-sphere based modelling
is to link the deformation of a single point on the
sphere to the macroscopic isochoric deformation F̄ .
Let r denote√a Lagrangean orientation unit vector
with |r|G := r ♭ · r = 1, where r ♭ := Gr is the co-
vector of r obtained by mapping with the standard
metric G = δAB . It can be described in terms of spher-
ical coordinates
r = cos ϕ sin ϑe1 + sin ϕ sin ϑe2 + cos ϑe3 (1)
in Cartesian frame {ei }i=1,2,3 , where ϕ ∈ [0, 2π] and
ϑ ∈ [0, π], see Fig. 1. Mapping of the unit orientation
vector r by the isochoric deformation of the contin-
uum F̄ leads to the spatial orientation vector
t = Fr . (2)
The affine-stretch of a material line element in the ori-
entation direction r reads
√
λ̄ := t♭ · t where t♭ := gt (3)
is the co-vector of t obtained by a mapping with
the current metric g = δAB . Before we introduce
the averaging operator on the unit micro-sphere S,
R ϑ R ϕ area dA = sin ϑdϕdϑ and the area
the infinitesimal
A(ϕ, ϑ) = 0 0 sin dϕdϑ are defined. The total area
reads |S| = 4π. To this end, we define the averaging
operator over the unit sphere S
1
Z
h·i = (·) dA (4)
|S| S
which can be considered as the homogenization of the
state variable (·) over the unit micro-sphere S. For
the affine micro-sphere model, the macroscopic free
energy function is linked to the microscopic free en-
ergies
Ψ̄(g; F , I) := nhψ(λ, I )i (5)
in terms of continuos integration on the sphere. The
set of microscopic internal variables of are denoted by
I . We propose, the affinity assumption λ = λ̄ holds
for the linkage between micro-stretches λ and macro-
stretches λ̄. The affinity assumption corresponds to
the Cauchy-Born rule in crystal elasticity, stating that
for crystals undergoing small deformations, stretch in
micro-orientation direction is equivalent to the macro-
scopic stretch λ̄.
2.2 Free energy and the dissipation function
A general internal variable formulation of finite in-
elasticity based on two scalar functions: the energy
storage function and the dissipation function, will be
constructed. The general set up of this generic type
of models in the context of multiplicative split of
 ψph
The micro-dissipation due to the internal variable
ψp reads
γ̇p
ep
Dloc := β̂p ε̇p ≥ 0 (12)
ψvh γ̇vh
ψv where we introduce the thermodynamical force driv-
γ̇v ing the endochronic dashpot

β̂p := −∂εp ψp − ∂εp ψph = βp − βph (13)

Figure 2. Rheological representation of the proposed model
the deformation gradient dates back to the works of
Biot (1965), Maugin (1990) among others. A simi-
lar framework is applied to rubber viscoelasticity by
Miehe and Göktepe (2005) in the context of micro-
sphere model. They used logarithmic stretches and
internal variables in the orientation directions of the
sphere with their work-conjugatetes for the descrip-
tion of the flow rule and/or the dissipation function.
Such an ansatz circumvents the complexities inherent
to the multiplicative split of the deformation gradi-
ent which entails additional assumptions concerning
the inelastic rotation and inelastic spin. In what fol-
lows, we propose microscopic free energy functions
and dissipation potentials for the constitutive descrip-
tion of the unvulcanized rubber material consistent
with the rheological description depicted in Fig. 2.
The microscopic free energy additively decomposes
into elasto-plastic and visco-elastic parts
ψ(λ, I ) = ψ̂ p (λ, I p ) + ψ̂ v (λ, I v ) .
as work-conjugate to the logarithmic internal variable
εp . βph = ∂εp ψph is the back stress. The model of in-
elasticity must be supplemented by additional consti-
tutive equations which determine the evolution of the
internal variables εp in time. A broad spectrum of in-
elastic solids is covered by the so-called standard dis-
sipative media where the evolution ε̇p is governed by
a smooth dissipation function φep which is related to
the free energy function through Biot’s equation
∂εp ψp (εe ) + ∂ε̇p φep (ε̇p , εp ) = 0 (14)
with εp (0) = 0. We propose a power-type generic ex-
pression for the dissipation function
ż mp mp
φep (ε̇p , εp ) := (ηp |ε̇p |) 1+mp (15)
ηp (1 + mp )
governed by the material parameters mp and ηp . In-
sertion of (15) into (14) leads to the evolution of the
(6) inelastic logarithmic strain after some manipulations

The storage and dissipation functions describing each ż

ε̇p := γ̇p (β̂p )β̂p ; γ̇p (β̂p ) := |β̂p |mp . (16)
part will be considered as follows. ηp
Endochronic plasticity + kinematic hardening:
The first branch of the rheology consists of two stor- A special choice of the evolution of the arclength
age functions
|λ̇|
ψ̂ p (λ, I p ) = ψp (λep ) + ψph (λp ), (7) ż := |ε̇| = (17)
λ
where the latter expression is responsible for the post- renders the formulation (16) rate-independent. Hence,
yield kinematic hardening. A generic power-type ex- the deformation of the plastic strain is controlled
pression is adopted for the free energy functions solely by the magnitude of the deformation history
µp and plastic flow occurs without a distinct yield sur-
(λep )δp − 1


ψp (λep ) := and (8) face.
δp Viscoelasticity + kinematic hardening:
µph The second branch of the rheology also consists of
ψph (λp ) := (λp − 1)δph . (9) two storage functions
δph
µp , δp , µph and δph are the material parameters. The ψ̂ v (λ, I v ) = ψv (λve ) + ψvh (λvh ), (18)
stretch expression is split into elastic and plastic con-
tributions where the latter expression is responsible for the post-
yield kinematic hardening. A generic power-type ex-
λ = λep λp and ε := εep + εp , (10) pression is adopted for the free energy functions
where ε = ln(λ), εep = ln(λep ) and εp = ln(λp ), re- µv
(λve )δv − 1


spectively. Hence, the internal state of the material ψv (λve ) := and (19)
δv
due to plastic deformation is described by
µvh
I p := {εp } . (11) ψvh (λvh ) := (λvh − 1)δvh . (20)
δvh
µv , δv , µvh and δvh are the material parameters. The 1
ε̇vh := γ̇vh (βvh )βvh ; γ̇vh (βvh ) := |βvh |mv , (30)
stretch expression is split into elastic and viscous con- ηvh
tributions respectively. In (16), (29) and (30), |(·)| :=
λ = λve λv and ε := εve + εv , (21) {[(·)/unit(·)]2 }1/2 is the norm operator with neutral-
ization of the units. In addition, the material parame-
where ε = ln(λ), εep = ln(λep ) and εp = ln(λp ), re- ters of the specified model are listed in Table 1 along
spectively. In order to model the rate-dependency of with their brief description and the equation numbers
the hardening stress, a second dashpot is introduced. where they appear.
Accordingly, the viscous stretch and strain is decom-
posed as 2.3 Stresses and Moduli
λv = λeh λvh and εv := εeh + εvh . (22) Endochronic plasticity + kinematic hardening:
(i) Stresses:
The internal state of the material due to viscous de-
Having the free energy function and the dissipation
formations is described by
function at hand, stress expression and the numerical
I v := {εv , εvh } . (23) tangent necessary for the finite element implemen-
tation will be derived. The Kirchhoff stresses τ̄ :=
The micro-dissipation due to the internal variables 2∂g Ψ̄(g; F̄ , I) are computed via
Table 1. Material parameters of the specified model
∂ ψ̂ p
Param. Description Eqn. τ̄ ep := hf p λ−1 t ⊗ ti ; f p := , (31)
µp , δp Elas. const., elasto-plastic branch (8)
∂λ
µph , δph Elas. const., back-stress in pl. branch (9)
µv , δv Elas. const., visco-elastic branch (19)
with the help of the identity
µvh , δvh Elas. const. back-stress in visc. branch (20)
ηp , mp Evol. par., plastic flow (15, 16) 2∂g λ = λ−1 t ⊗ t . (32)
ηv , mv Evol. par., viscous flow (27, 29)
ηvh , mv Evol. par., hardening viscosity (28, 30) Applying the chain rule, the relation between the
micro-stresses σp = ∂εe ψp and f p can be established

reads f p = σp /λ . (33)
ve
Dloc := β̂v ε̇v + βvh ε̇vh ≥ 0 , (24) (31)2 and (33) into (8) leads to
where we introduce the thermodynamical forces driv- δ
p λepp
ing the viscous dashpots f = µp ; σp = µp λδepp . (34)
λ
β̂v := −∂εv ψv − ∂εv ψvh = βv − βvh (25)
Computation of σp at an orientation direction r en-
as work-conjugate to the logarithmic internal variable tails the description of the current state of the history
εv and variable λp or εp . In order to compute εp for a given
time-step tn+1 , we recall the flow rule expression (16)
βvh := −∂εvh ψvh (26) and recast it into a discrete residual form by backward
Euler scheme
as work-conjugate to the logarithmic internal variable
εvh , respectively. The identity ∂εv ψvh = −∂εvh ψvh is r p = εp − εnp − γ̇p (β̂p )β̂p ∆t = 0 . (35)
utilised in the previous equation. βvh = −∂εvh ψvh is
the rate-dependent back stress. The index n denotes the previous time-step tn ,
The power-type generic expressions for the dissi-
pation functions read Table 2. Local Newton update of the internal variable εp
mv mv
1. Set initial values k = 0, ε0p = εn
φve (ε̇v , εv ) := (ηv |ε̇v |) 1+mv , (27) DO
v
ηv (1 + mv ) 2. Residual equation r p = εp − εn
p − γ̇p (β̂p )β̂p ∆t = 0

vh mvh mvh
3. Linearization Lin r p := r p |εk + ∂r p
|εk ∆εk+1
p =0
φ (ε̇vh , εvh ) := (ηvh |ε̇vh |) (28) 1+mvh p ∂εp p

ηvh (1 + mvh ) 4. Compute Kp := ∂r p

∂εp ε =εk
p p
and are governed by the material parameters mv , mvh , 5. Solve ∆εk+1
p = −K−1
p rp
ηv and ηvh , respectively. The dissipation potentials 6. Update εk+1
p ← εkp + ∆εk+1
p
(27) and (28) lead to the evolution laws k ←k+1
WHILE T OL ≤ |r p |
1
ε̇v := γ̇v (β̂v )β̂v ; γ̇v (β̂v ) := |β̂v |mv and (29)
ηv
whereas the index n + 1 is dropped from εp and β̂p In order to derive the expression dε
dε
p
, we will make use
expression for the sake of convenience. The thermo- ofpthe implicit function theorem. Recalling the identity
dr
dynamical force driving the endochronic dashpot can dε
= 0 and applying the chain rule, one finally ends
be derived by incorporating (13)2 into (8) and (9) up with

β̂p = σp − βph ; βph = µph (λp − 1)δph −1 λp . (36) dεp ∆t ηżp |β̂p |mp σp′ λep
= . (48)
(35) is a nonlinear equation and cannot be solved an- dε Kp
alytically for εp . Linearization of the residual around Viscoelasticity + kinematic hardening:
εkp yields (i) Stresses:
The viscoelastic part of the Kirchhoff stresses can be
∂r p derived similar to what has been proposed for the en-
Lin r p := r p |εkp + |εkp ∆εk+1
p =0. (37)
∂εp dochronic branch
Setting ε0p = εnp , the incremental plastic strain in (37) ∂ ψ̂ v
can be obtained τ̄ ve := hf v λ−1 t ⊗ ti ; f v := , (49)
∂λ
∂r p along with the definitions
∆εk+1
p = −Kp−1 r p |εkp ; Kp = |εk . (38)
∂εp p
v λδvev
Update of the plastic strain reads f = σv /λ = µv and σv = µv λδvev . (50)
λ
εk+1 = εkp + ∆εk+1 . (39) Computation of σv at an orientation direction r en-
p p
tails outer and inner iterations for the viscous strain
(35) is to be solved repeating the steps (38) and (39) εv and the hardening viscous strain εvh , respectively.
until a certain residual tolerance |rp |<T OL is obtained. The residual equation for the outer iteration step is
The tangent term Kp in (38) reads written as

ż ∂ β̂p r v = εv − εnv − γ̇v (β̂v )β̂v ∆t = 0 . (51)

Kp = 1 − (mp + 1) ∆t|β̂p |mp (40)
ηp ∂εp The thermodynamical force driving the endochronic
dashpot can be derived by incorporating (26)2 into
where (19) and (20)
∂ β̂p
= − σp′ λep + βph
′ β̂v = σv − βvh ; βvh = µvh (λeh − 1)δvh −1 λeh . (52)


λp , (41)
∂εp
(51) is a nonlinear equation and cannot be solved an-
σp′ = δp µp λδepp −1 , (42) alytically for εv . Linearization of the residual around
′ δ −2 δ −1 εkp yields
βph =(δph −1)µph (λp −1) ph λp +µph (λp −1) ph . (43)
The Newton iteration scheme for the computation of ∂r v
Lin r v := r v |εkv + | k ∆εk+1
v =0. (53)
the current value of εp is summarized in Table 2. ∂εv εv
(ii) Algorithmic moduli:
Further derivation of the stress expression (31) with Setting ε0v = εnv and updating (53) iteratively via
respect to the Eulerian metric g yields the spatial al-
∂r v
gorithmic tangent ∆εk+1
v = −Kv−1 r v |εkv ; Kv = |εk (54)
∂εv v
C̄palgo := 2∂g τ̄ ep (g, I p, F̄ ; F̄ n , I pn ) . (44)
and
Use of the results ∂g (t ⊗ t) = 0 and (32) and incor- εk+1 = εkv + ∆εk+1 , (55)
v v
poration (44) into (31) leads to the compact represen-
tation one obtains the current state of the history variable εv .
The tangent term Kv in (54) reads
C̄palgo := h(cp − f pλ−1 )λ−2t ⊗ t ⊗ t ⊗ ti (45)
1 ∂ β̂v
where Kv = 1 − (mv + 1) ∆t|β̂v |mv (56)
ηv ∂εv
df p 1 dσp f p
cp := = 2 − and (46) along with the following definitions
dλ λ dε λ
dσp dεp ∂ β̂v
= δp µp λδepp (1 − ). (47) = − (σv′ λve + βvh
′
λeh ) , (57)
dε dε ∂εv
σv′ = δv µv λve
δv −1
, (58) Table 3. Local Newton update of the internal variables {εv , εvh }
′ δ −2 δ −1 k = 0, ε0v = εn
βvh =(δvh −1)µvh (λeh −1) vh λeh +µvh (λeh −1) vh . (59) 1. Set initial values
DO
v

(i) Set initial values i = 0, ε0vh = εn

The tangent Kv and the residual r v are dependent on DO
vh

the elastic strain εeh and the viscous strain εvh of the (ii) Residual equation r vh = εvh − εn
vh − γ̇vh (βvh )βvh ∆t = 0
hardening part. This requires the solution of the resid- (iii) Linearization Lin r vh := r vh |εi + ∂r vh
∂εvh
|εi ∆εi+1
vh = 0
vh vh
ual expression ∂r vh
(iv) Compute Kvh := ∂εvh ε =εi
vh vh
vh
r = εvh − εnvh − γ̇vh (βvh )βvh ∆t = 0 (60) (v) Solve ∆εi+1
vh = −Kvh rvh |εi
−1
vh

(vi) Update εi+1 i i+1

vh ← εvh + ∆εvh
prior to the update of (59). Linearization of the resid- i ← i+1
ual expression (60) around εkvh yields WHILE T OL ≤ r vh
2. Residual equation rv= εv − εn v − γ̇v (β̂v )β̂v ∆t =0
∂r vh 3. Linearization Lin r := r v |εk + ∂r
v
v
| ∆εk+1 =0
Lin r vh vh
:= r |εkvh + | k ∆εk+1 = 0 . (61) v ∂εv εk v
v

∂εvh εvh vh 4. Compute Kv := ∂r v

∂εv ε =εk
v v

Setting ε0vh = εnvh , the incremental viscous-hardening 5. Solve ∆εk+1

v = −K−1
v rv |εk
v

strain in (61) can be obtained 6. Update εk+1

v ← εkv + ∆εk+1
v
k ← k+1
∂r vh WHILE T OL ≤ |r v |
∆εk+1 −1 vh
vh = −Kvh r |εkvh ; Kvh = | k . (62)
∂εvh εvh
The derivation of the expression dεdεv is also carried out
Update of the viscous-hardening strain reads by applying the implicit function theorem and yields
εk+1 k k+1
vh = εvh + ∆εvh . (63) ∆t η1v |β̂v |mv σv′ λve
dεv
= . (70)
(60) is to be solved iteratively, updating (62) and (63) dε Kv
until a certain residual tolerance |rvh |<T OL is reached.
The tangent Kv of the internal Newton iteration reads Finally, the algorithmic Eulerian tangent moduli
C̄algo := 2∂gτ̄ (g, I, F̄ ; F̄ n , I n ) read
1 ∂βvh
Kvh = 1 − (mvh + 1)
ηvh
∆t|βvh |mvh
∂εvh
(64) C̄algo := h(c − f λ−1)λ−2t ⊗ t ⊗ t ⊗ ti (71)

where with

∂βvh ′
c := cp + cv and f = fp + fv . (72)
= −βvh λeh . (65)
∂εvh
The isochoric part of the Eulerian tangent moduli
Once the solution of the internal iteration is achieved, reads
the update of the outer residual (53) follows straight-
forwardly through (54). The Newton iteration scheme C iso
P C̄
:= :[ 2
algo : 3 (τ̄ :g)I − 23 (τ̄ ⊗ g −1 +g −1 ⊗ τ̄ )]:P (73)
for the update of εv and εvh is summarized in Table 3.
(ii) Algorithmic moduli: where Iabcd = [δca δdb + δda δcb ]/2 is the fourth order sym-
Further derivation of the of the stress expression (49) metric identity tensor. The total Eulerian tangent is
with respect to the Eulerian metric g yields the spatial obtained by summing up the volumetric and isochoric
algorithmic tangent parts

C̄valgo := 2∂g τ̄ ve (g, I v , F̄ ; F̄ n , I vn ) . (66) C := Cvol + Ciso . (74)

Incorporation of (66) into (49) leads to the represen- 2.4 Micro-macro transition
tation
Numerical implementation of the continuous integral
C̄ v
algo
v v −1 −2
:= h(c − f λ )λ t ⊗ t ⊗ t ⊗ ti (67) over the unit sphere requires discretization in terms of
finite summation
where m
1
Z X
df v 1 dσv f v (·) dA ≈ (·)i w i . (75)
cv := = 2 − and (68) |S| S i=1
dλ λ dε λ
dσv dεv Here, {w i}i=1...m are the weight factors in the discrete
= δv µv λδvev (1 − ). (69) orientation directions {r i }i=1...m. The weights w i and
dε dε
 (a) 0.20 (b) 0.20
the discrete orientations r i should satisfy certain nor-
malization conditions in order to preserve isotropy
0.15 0.15
and stress-free reference configuration. Analytically,

P11 [MPa]
P11 [MPa]
it can be easily shown that 0.10 0.10

1
hri = 0 and hr ⊗ ri = 1 . (76) 0.05 0.05
3
0 0
Similarly, the discrete representation should preserve 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
λ [-]
1.8 2.0 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
λ [-]
1.8 2.0

the identities (76)1 and (76)2

m m Figure 5. Cyclic tension test on unvulcanized natural rubber:
X
i i
X 1 i i i stress vs. stretch plot (a) experiment, (b) model prediction. The
rw =0 and r ⊗r w = 1. (77)
i=1 i=1
3 loading rate is λ̇ = 0.2[s−1 ].

Set of orientation vectors {ri }i=1...m and associated loading rates, and the identified parameters from uni-
weight factors {w i}i=1...m which satisfy the con- axial tension tests will be used for the demonstration
straints (77)1 and (77)2 are given in Bažant and Oh of the nonhomogeneous compression tests. Further-
(1986). The set of m = 21 integration points for the more, multistep relaxation tests and cyclic compres-
half sphere are used for the current investigations. sion tests will be used for the verification of the con-
stitutive model.
3 MODEL VALIDATION AND NUMERICAL
EXAMPLES 3.1 Comparison of homogeneous test results
Fig. 3a depicts the uniaxial tension tests and the
(a) 2.0 (b)
8 model predictions with the identified material param-
Experiment Experiment eters given in Table 4. During the identification pro-
1.6 Simulation Simulation
6 cess, more attention is given for the stretches beyond
λ = 2. The proposed model shows slight underesti-
P11 [MPa]

P11 [MPa]

1.2
4
0.8
mation upto stretch level λ = 2 and excellent fitting
2
capability from λ = 2 to λ = 7 at different stretch lev-
0.4
els. The identified parameters are used for validation
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0
1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2
of nonhomogeneous compression tests and the results
λ [-] λ [-] are shown in Fig. 3b. The compression tests show an
inital underestimation in comparison to the experi-
Figure 3. Comparison of the proposed model with (a) uniax- ments similar to the uniaxial tensile tests. However,
ial tensile experiments on unvulcanized natural rubber at stretch the qualitative description of the material behaviour
rates λ̇ = 0.1/35 [s−1 ] and λ̇ = 10/35 [s−1 ] and (b) nonhomo- is successfully captured.
geneous compression tests, respectively.
In Fig. 4a, the multistep tensile relaxation curve
for unvulcanized natural rubber is depicted. Fig. 4b
(a) 0.20 1.8 (a) 0.20
shows the model prediction with modified parame-
ters given in Table 4. Fig. 4 is especially significant
0.15 1.6 0.15 in order to assess the form of the dissipation poten-
tial governing the viscous flow. The reason for using
P11 [MPa]
P11 [MPa]

λ [-]

0.10 1.4 0.10 modified parameters compared to the identified pa-

rameters for uniaxial tension and compression tests
0.05 1.2 0.05
is to capture long-term relaxation effects which are
0 1 0 lumped to the endochronic branch in the previous
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time 10 [s]3
Time 103 [s]
identification process. Besides, the parameters iden-
tified for the tension-compression tests underestimate
Figure 4. Comparison of (a) the experimental results of uniax- the initial behaviour where the relaxation experiments
ial tension stress vs. time, (b) the model prediction for tensile are carried out and prestressing with an amount of
relaxation test. The loading rate is λ̇ = 0.2 [s−1 ], and intermit- σpre ≈ 0.05MPa is applied to the uniaxial test spec-
tent relaxations are applied at stretch levels λ = 1.2, λ = 1.4 and imens before loading. In reality, a spectrum of visco-
λ = 1.6, respectively. elastic branches is needed in order to capture the
range of relevant loading frequencies and the num-
In what follows, the proposed constitutive model ber of parallel viscoelastic branches can be increased
will be compared to the experimental data. The mod- for improving the accuracy. Fig. 5a depicts cyclic ten-
elling capacity will be assessed according to the ho- sion test results and the model prediction is shown
mogeneous uniaxial tension tests at two different in Fig. 5b. Permanent setting due to plastic deforma-
Table 4. Identified material parameters curves of the experiment are depicted in Fig. 6. For
Parameter Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Dimension
control purposes, a generalized Maxwell model with
µp 0.11 0.055 0.22 [MPa] three Maxwell branches in parallel to a Yeoh type
δp 6.0 6.0 6.0 [-] hyperelasticity model is used. The formulation is
µph 0.45 0.45 0.23 [MPa]
δph 6.0 6.0 6.0 [-] based on the linear finite viscoelasticity framework of
ηp 0.4 0.15 0.10 [MPa] Kaliske and Rothert (1997a, 1997b) and documented
mp 1.0 1.0 1.0 [-] in A BAQUS Theory Manual. The material parameters
µv 0.10 0.20 0.20 [MPa] are identified in discarding the kinematic hardening
δv 7.1 10 7.1 [-] region in the identification process according to the
µvh 0.36 0.36 0.18 [MPa]
δvh 7.1 7.1 7.1 [-] homogeneous experiments presented in Figs. 3, 4, 5.
ηv 2.0 1.0 · 102 1.0 [MPa·s] The hardening part is captured by including a small
mv 2.0 1.0 2.0 [-] amount of equilibrium elasticity. Both simulations are
ηvh 9.2 · 102 9.2 · 102 9.2 · 102 [MPa·s] carried out with an explicit FE-method due to extreme
mvh 1.0 1.0 1.0 [-] distortions rendering implicit FE-simulation impossi-
ble. The results with the proposed constitutive model
and the A BAQUS simulations based on the finite vis-
tions is captured successfully with slight underesti- coelasticity combined with Yeoh type hyperelastic
mation of the initial stresses. In general, the proposed formulation are compared to the experimental results
theory clearly captures the distinct characteristics of in Fig. 6. The proposed model is quite successful in
the unvulcanized rubber qualitatively. Considering the capturing the load displacement characteristics of the
difficulties in preparing the test specimens due to the unvulcanized rubber material.
sticky nature of the unvulcanized rubber and the dam-
age caused to the specimens during cutting procedure,
4 CONCLUSION
the discrepancy observed between theory and the ex-
periments is tolerable. However, it is to be mentioned
We proposed a new constitutive model for unvul-
that more experimental information is needed on vul-
canized rubber and a novel algorithmic setting based
canized rubber in order to assess the quality of the
on the kinematics of affine micro-sphere model. The
material model proposed.
model uses logarithmic strains in the orientation di-
rection of a unit-sphere as state variables. The com-
40 plex three-dimensional kinematics based on the mul-
Experiment
tiplicative split of the deformation gradient is a pri-
Model prediction
30 Abaqus-visco
ori eliminated. The power type free energy and dissi-
pation potentials are used for the construction of the
Force [kN]

rheology. Fitting capacity of the proposed constitutive

20
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Displacement [mm]
Figure 6. Comparison of the load-displacement curves for the
drawing simulation of unvulcanized natural rubber specimen.
3.2 Numerical Example: Forming simulation of an
unvulcanized rubber specimen
The algorithm proposed in the previous section is im-
plemented into A BAQUS as a U MAT subroutine. A
three-dimensional mould is constructed as a friction-
less contact surface and a rubber sample is pressed
into the mould. The three-dimensional geometry of
the specimen is hidden due to copyright restrictions
of our industrial partner. The rubber sample is pre-
pared from identical compound used for homoge-
neous experiments and under identical conditions.
The measured pressing force versus tip displacement
model is demonstrated to be succesful in capturing the
observed material behaviour.
REFERENCES
Bažant, Z. P. & B. H. Oh (1986). Efficient numerical integration
on the surface of a sphere. Zeitschrift für angewandte Math-
ematik und Mechanik 66, 37–49.
Biot, M. A. (1965). Mechanics of Incremental Deformations.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
Haupt, P. (2000). Continuum Mechanics and Theory of Materi-
als. Springer–Verlag, Berlin.
Kaliske, M. & H. Rothert (1997a). Formulation and implemen-
tation of three–dimensional viscoelasticity at small and finite
strains. Computational Mechanics 19, 228–239.
Kaliske, M. & H. Rothert (1997b). On the finite element imple-
mentation of rubber-like materials at finite strains. Engineer-
ing Computations 14, 216–232.
Maugin, G. (1990). Internal Variables and Dissipative Struc-
tures. Journal of Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics 15, 20.
Miehe, C. & S. Göktepe (2005). A micro–macro approach to
rubber–like materials. Part II: The micro–sphere model of
finite rubber viscoelasticity. Journal of the Mechanics and
Physics of Solids 53, 2231–2258.
Miehe, C., S. Göktepe, & F. Lulei (2004). A micro–macro
approach to rubber–like materials. Part I: The non–affine
micro–sphere model of rubber elasticity. Journal of the Me-
chanics and Physics of Solids 52, 2617–2660.

View publication stats