Study on the Determination of Fatigue Damage Parameter for Rubber Component under Multiaxial Loading

Rubber components have been widely used in automotive industry as anti-vibration components for many years. These subjected to fluctuating loads, often fail due to the nucleation and growth of defects or cracks. To prevent such failures, it is necessary to understand the fatigue failure mechanism for rubber materials and to evaluate the fatigue life for rubber components. The objective of this study is to develop the durability analysis process for vulcanized rubber components, which is applicable to predict fatigue life at initial product design step. The determination method of nonlinear material constants for FE analysis was proposed. In order to investigate the applicability of the commonly used damage parameters, fatigue tests and corresponding finite element analyses were carried out and strain energy density was proposed as the fatigue damage parameter for rubber components. The fatigue analysis for automotive rubber components was performed and the durability analysis process was reviewed.