ABSTRACT
Elastomeric materials in the rubbery state can be stretched up to several hundred percent without exhibiting plastic flow and recover their original shape completely when the deforming force is removed. Furthermore, elastomers provide optimal vibration and sound damping by utilizing a mechanism known as hysteretic damping to dissipate energy caused by their viscoelastic behaviour. For these reasons elastomer components are used for several technical applications, for example bearings in the automotive sector in order to reduce effects of external noise and vibration or to design the elasto-kinematic behavior of suspension. The operation site defines the conditions of use. Taking up large dynamic loads is the main task of those elements. Furthermore they are often used in environments where the temperature is relatively high. On top of that, it is a well-known issue that elastomers, under cyclic mechanical loading at adequate amplitudes and frequencies, can heat up intensely caused by dissipation. The temperature change leads to a change in the viscoelastic material properties and generates thermal strains or thermally induced stresses. Similarly, the temperature changes lead to aging phenomena and changes in the strength properties. Therefore, the modeling of thermomechanical couplings and the implementation of the model into the commercial finite element software ABAQUS is presented. This model will be evaluated regarding applicability, computation time and accuracy.
