Material Properties for Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

The basic material properties that need to be known for accurate Finite Element Analysis are:

1) Stress-Strain relationship, Young’s modulus of elasticity
2) Yield strength.
3) Bulk and shear modulus.
4) Poisson’s ratio.
5) Density.

The relationship between applied mechanical force/stress and resulting deformation/strain on a given material is called its stress-strain curve or a constituent relationship equation. Isotropic materials like plastics, metals and elastomers exhibit the same behavior in all their orientations and layouts, while orthotropic and anisotropic materials, such as composites, glass-filled plastics, etc. show mechanical stress-strain properties that vary depending on the directions. Stress-strain equations and behaviors vary greatly by material type, as metals, plastics, elastomers, glass, composites, etc.

AdvanSES is a premier material testing laboratory for mechanical properties testing and component testing. We can test aged and unaged samples. Materials can be tested under static, dynamic and under elevated temperature conditions. In addition to testing and FEA, we have in-house machining facilities to develop test fixtures required to evaluate products and components for stiffness, stress, strain etc.

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Dynamic Properties of Polymer, Rubber and Elastomer Materials

Non-linear Viscoelastic Dynamic Properties of Polymer, Rubber and Elastomer Materials

Static testing of materials as per ASTM D412, ASTM D638, ASTM D624 etc can be cate- gorized as slow speed tests or static tests. The difference between a static test and dynamic test is not only simply based on the speed of the test but also on other test variables em- ployed like forcing functions, displacement amplitudes, and strain cycles. The difference is also in the nature of the information we back out from the tests. When related to poly- mers and elastomers, the information from a conventional test is usually related to quality control aspect of the material or the product, while from dynamic tests we back out data regarding the functional performance of the material and the product.

 

Tires are subjected to high cyclical deformations when vehicles are running on the road. When exposed to harsh road conditions, the service lifetime of the tires is jeopardized by many factors, such as the wear of the tread, the heat generated by friction, rubber aging, and others. As a result, tires usually have composite layer structures made of carbon-filled rubber, nylon cords, and steel wires, etc. In particular, the composition of rubber at different layers of the tire architecture is optimized to provide different functional properties. The desired functionality of the different tire layers is achieved by the strategical design of specific viscoelastic properties in the different layers. Zones of high loss modulus material will absorb energy differently than zones of low loss modulus. The development of tires utilizing dynamic characterization allows one to develop tires for smoother and safer rides in different weather conditions.

Figure  Locations of Different Materials in a Tire Design

The dynamic properties are also related to tire performance like rolling resistance, wet traction, dry traction, winter performance and wear. Evaluation of viscoelastic properties of different layers of the tire by DMA tests is necessary and essential to predict the dynamic performance. The complex modulus and mechanical behavior of the tire are mapped across the cross section of the tire comprising of the different materials. A DMA frequency sweep

test is performed on the tire sample to investigate the effect of the cyclic stress/strain fre- quency on the complex modulus and dynamic modulus of the tire, which represents the viscoelastic properties of the tire rotating at different speeds. Significant work on effects of dynamic properties on tire performance has been carried out by Ed Terrill et al. at Akron Rubber Development Laboratory, Inc.

Non-linear Viscoelastic Tire Simulation Using FEA

Non-linear Viscoelastic tire simulation is carried out using Abaqus to predict the hysteresis losses, temperature distribution and rolling resistance of a tire. The simulation includes several steps like (a) FE tire model generation, (b) Material parameter identification, (c) Material modeling and (d) Tire Rolling Simulation. The energy dissipation and rolling re- sistance are evaluated by using dynamic mechanical properties like storage and loss modu- lus, tan delta etc. The heat dissipation energy is calculated by taking the product of elastic strain energy and the loss tangent of materials. Computation of tire rolling is further carried out. The total energy loss per one tire revolution is calculated by;

Ψdiss = ∑ i2πΨiTanδi, (.27)
i=1
where Ψ is the elastic strain energy,
Ψdiss is the dissipated energy in one full rotation of the tire, and
Tanδi, is the damping coefficient.

The temperature prediction in a rolling tire shown in Fig (2) is calculated from the loss modulus and the strain in the element at that location. With the change in the deformation pattern, the strains are also modified in the algorithm to predict change in the temperature distribution in the different tire regions.

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Failure of Rubber Components under Fatigue

Rubber components under multiaxial cyclic loading conditions are often considered to have failed or degraded when there is a change is the stiffness of the component and it is no longer able to provide the performance it is designed for. Elastomeric polymer components are widely used in many industries like automotive, aerospace and biomedical applications due to their good vibration isolation and energy absorption characteristics. The type of loading normally encountered by these components in service is mutiaxial in nature. Fatigue failure is thus a major consideration in their design and availability of testing techniques to predict fatigue life under these complex conditions is a necessity.

In real world applications all materials and products are subjected to a wide variety of vibrating or oscillating forces. Fatigue testing consists of applying a cyclic load to a test specimen or the component to determine in-service performance during situations similar to real world working conditions.

Advanced Scientific and Engineering Services (AdvanSES) specializes in Fatigue Testing of Automotive Components including hoses, engine mounts, vibration isolators, silent bushes etc. Fatigue testing can be carried out in stress & force control, strain control or displacement control. The deformation modes under which fatigue tests are generally carried out are tension – tension, compression – compression, tension – compression and compression – tension.

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ASTM D5992 Dynamic Properties of Rubber Vibration Products

ASTM D 5992 Test Standard applies to Dynamic Properties of Rubber Vibration Products such as springs, dampers, and flexible load-carrying devices, flexible power transmission couplings, vibration isolation components and mechanical rubber goods. The standard applies to to the measurement of stiffness, damping, and measurement of dynamic modulus.

Dynamic testing is performed on a variety of rubber parts and components like engine mounts, hoses, conveyor belts, vibration isolators, laminated and non-laminated bearing pads, silent bushes etc.   to determine their response to dynamic loads and cyclic loading.

Personalized consultation from AdvanSES engineers can streamline testing and provide the necessary tools and techniques to accurately evaluate material performance under field service conditions.

The quantities of interest for measurements are tan delta, loss modulus, storage modulus, phase etc.  All of these properties are viscoleastic properties and require instruments, techniques and measurement practices of the highest quality.

 

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Dynamic Characterization Testing as Per ASTM D5992 and ISO 4664

ASTM D5992 and ISO 4664-1

ASTM D5992 covers the methods and process available for determining the dynamic prop- erties of vulcanized natural rubber and synthetic rubber compounds and components. The standard covers the sample shape and size requirements, the test methods, and the pro- cedures to generate the test results data and carry out further subsequent analysis. The methods described are primarily useful over the range of temperatures from cryogenic to 200◦C and for frequencies from 0.01 to 100 Hz, as not all instruments and methods will accommodate the entire ranges possible for material behavior.

Figures(.43and.44) show the results from a frequency sweep test on five (5) different elastomer compounds. Results of Storage modulus and Tan delta are plotted.

 

Figure .43: Plot of Storage Modulus Vs Frequency from a Frequency Sweep Test

 

The frequency sweep tests have  been carried out by applying a pre-compression of  10 % and subsequently a displacement amplitude of 1 % has been applied in the positive and negative directions. Apart from tests on cylindrical and square block samples ASTM D5992 recommends the dual lap shear test specimen in rectangular, square and cylindri- cal shape specimens. Figure (.45) shows the double lap shear shapes recommended in the standard.

Figure .44: Plot of Tan delta Vs Frequency from a Frequency Sweep Test

 

Figure .45: Double Lap Shear Shapes

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Dynamic Properties of Polymer Materials and Their Measurements

My short book on Dynamic Properties of Polymer Materials and Their Measurements provides an introduction to solid polymer materials and their time, frequency and temperature dependent properties. It provides a review of the basic theory, how the materials are experimentally characterized, and how to analyze and predict their behavior under different service conditions.

 

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Free eBook: Material Characterization Testing and Finite Element Analysis of Elastomers

The application of computational mechanics analysis techniques to elastomers presents
unique challenges in modeling the following characteristics:
1) The load-deflection behavior of an elastomer is markedly non-linear.
2) The recoverable strains can be as high 400 % making it imperative to use the large
deflection theory.
3) The stress-strain characteristics are highly dependent on temperature and rate effects
are pronounced.
4) Elastomers are nearly incompressible.
5) Viscoelastic effects are significant.

The inability to apply a failure theory as applicable to metals increases the complexities regarding the failure and life prediction of an elastomer part. The advanced material models available today define the material as
hyperelastic and fully isotropic. The strain energy density (W) function is used to describe the material behavior.

To help you better understand, we broke down everything you need to know about materials, testing, FEA verifications and validations etc.

Download the free eBook here.

 

Here’s what you can expect to learn:

1. Elastomeric materials and their properties

2. Computational Mechanics in the design and development of polymeric components

3. Why there are recommended testing protocols

4. Curve-fitting the Material Constants.

5. Verifications and Validations of FEA Solutions

 

Let’s talk Engineering with Rubber.

Our expert engineers can help you get your next product into the market in the shortest possible team or solve your durability and fatigue problems. To learn more, fill up the contact form and get in touch

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Abaqus – Tips and Tricks Vol 1

Abaqus – Tips and Tricks: When to use what Elements?

For a 3D stress analysis, ABAQUS offers different typess of linear and quadratic hexahedral elements, a brief description is as below;

  1. Linear Hexahedral: C3D8 further subdivided as C3D8R, C3D8I, and C3D8H
  2. Quadratic Hexahedral: C3D20 further subdivided as C3D20R, C3D20I, and C3D20H, C3D20RH
  3. Linear Tetrahedral: C3D4 further subdivided as C3D4R, and C3D4H
  4. Quadratic Tetrahedral: C3D10 further subdivided as C3D10M, C3D10I and C3D10MH
  5. Prisms: C3D6 further subdivided as C3D6R, and C3D6H

In three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis, two types of element shapes are commonly utilized for mesh generation: tetrahedral and hexahedral. While tetrahedral meshing is highly automated, and relatively does a good job at predicting stresses with sufficient mesh refinement, hexahedral meshing commonly requires user intervention and is effort intensive in terms of partitioning. Hexahedral elements are generally preferred over tetrahedral elements because of their superior performance in terms of convergence rate and accuracy of the solution.

The preference for hexahedral elements(linear and uadratic) can be attributed to the fact that linear tetrahedrals originating from triangular elements have stiff formulations and exhibit the phenomena of volumetric and shear locking. Hexahedral elements on the other hand have consistently predicted reasonable foce vs loading (stiffness) conditions, material incompressibility in friction and frictionless contacts. This has led to modeling situations where tetrahedrals and prisms are recommended when there are frictionless contact conditions and when the material incompressibility conditiona can be relaxed to a reasonable degree of assumption.

A general rule of thumb is if the model is relatively simple and you want the most accurate solution in the minimum amount of time then the linear hexahedrals will never disappoint.

Modified second-order tetrahedral elements (C3D10, C3D10M, C3D10MH) all mitigate the problems associated with linear tetrahedral elements. These element offer good convergence rate with a minimum of shear or volumetric locking. Generally, observing the deformed shape will show of shear or volumetric locking and mesh can be modified or refined to remove these effects.

C3D10MH can also be used to model incompressible rubber materials in the hybrid formulation. These variety of elements offer better distribution of surface stresses and the deformed shape and pattern is much better. These elements are robust during finite deformation and uniform contact pressure formulation allows these elements to model contact accurately.

The following are the recommendations from the house of Abaqus(1);

  • Minimize mesh distortion as much as possible.
  • A minimum of four quadratic elements per 90o should be used around a circular hole.
  • A minimum of four elements should be used through the thickness of a structure if first-order, reduced-integration solid elements are used to model bending.

 

 

  1. Abaqus Theory and Reference Manuals, Dassault Systemes, RI, USA
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HYPERELASTIC MATERIAL MODELS IN FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS (FEA) OF POLYMER AND RUBBER COMPONENTS

INTRODUCTION:

Finite element analysis is widely used in the design and analysis of elastomer components in the automotive and aerospace industry. Numerous publications [7-11] addressed the applications of FEA and have established the method as a reliable tool to predict stress analysis parameters under different loading conditions. In this report we have studied the different material models available to simulate elastomer behavior. Nonlinear Finite element code Abaqus® was used to develop the 2D Axisymmetric and 3D models. Generalized continuum axisymmetric and hexahedral elements were used to model the structures in two and three dimensions using these hyperelastic material models. Testing of materials to characterize the rubber compounds has been carried out in-house and the material constants have been developed using the regression analysis based curve-fitting procedure.

MATERIAL TESTING AND CHARACTERIZATION PROCEDURE:

The application of computational mechanics analysis techniques to elastomers presents unique challenges in modeling the following characteristics:

  1. The load-deflection behavior of an elastomer is markedly non-linear.
  2. The recoverable strains can be as high 400 % making it imperative to use the large deflection theory.
  3. The stress-strain characteristics are highly dependent on temperature and rate effects.
  4. Elastomers are nearly incompressible.
  5. Viscoelastic effects are significant.

Finite element codes like Abaqus® Ansys®, LS-Dyna® and MSC-Marc® generally require the input of test data covering the maximum range, which the elastomer product experiences in service conditions. Test data from the main principal deformation modes are generally used as shown in Figure 1. When designing a product from scratch all the four tests can be used to generate the constants for the design but for failure analysis one may not have enough material to carry out all the tests.

Figure 1: AdvanSES Material Characterization Tests

STRAIN ENERGY FUNCTIONS:

In the FE analysis of elastomeric materials, the material is characterized by using different forms of the strain energy density function. The strain energy density of a solid can be defined as the work done per unit volume to deform a material from a stress free reference or original state to a final state. The strain energy density functions have been derived using a Statistical mechanics, and Continuum mechanics involving Invariant and Stretch based approaches.

  • Statistical Mechanics Approach

The statistical mechanics approach is based on the assumption that the elastomeric material is made up of randomly oriented molecular chains. The total end to end length of a chain (r) is given by

Where µ and lm are material constants obtained from the curve-fitting procedure and Jel is the elastic volume ratio.

·      Invariant Based Continuum Mechanics Approach

The Invariant based continuum mechanics approach is based on the assumption that for a isotropic, hyperelastic material the strain energy density function can be defined in terms of the Invariants. The three different strain invariants can be defined as

I1 = l12+l22+l32

I2 = l12l22+l22l32+l12l32

I3 = l12l22l32

With C01 = 0 the above equation reduces to the Neo-Hookean form.

  • Stretch Based Continuum Mechanics Approach

The Stretch based continuum mechanics approach is based on the assumption that the strain energy potential can be expressed as a function of the principal stretches rather than the invariants. The Stretch based Ogden form of the strain energy function is defined as

where µi and ai are material parameters and for an incompressible material Di=0.

            The choice of the material model depends heavily on the material and the stretch ratios (strains) to which it will be subjected during its service life. As a rule-of-thumb for small strains of approximately 100 % or lb2, simple models such as Mooney-Rivlin are sufficient but for higher strains a higher order material model as the Ogden model may be required to successfully simulate the ”upturn” or strengthening that can occur in some materials at higher strains.

Figure 2 shows the verification procedure that can be carried out to verify the FEA Model as well as the used material model. The procedure also validates the boundary conditions if the main deformation mode is simulated on an material testing system (MTS) and results verified computationally. Figure 2 shows a bushing on a testing jig, and the plot show the FEA model and load vs. displacement results compared to the experimental results. It is generally observed that verification procedures work very well for plane strain and axisymmetric cases and the use of 3-D modeling in the present procedure provides a more rigorous verification methodology.

 

Figure 2: Product Testing and FEA Model Verification Results

REFERENCES:

1) Gent, N. A., Engineering with Rubber: How to Design Rubber Components Hanser   Publishers, NY, 92

2) Srinivas, K., Material Characterization and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of High Performance Tires, Internation Rubber Conference at the India Rubber Expo, 2005.

3) ABAQUS Inc., ABAQUS: Theory and Reference Manuals HKS Inc., RI, 02

4) Bathe, K. J., Finite Element Procedures Prentice-Hall, NJ, 96

5) Dowling, N. E., Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Engineering Methods for

     Deformation, Fracture and Fatigue Prentice-Hall, NJ, 99

6) Morman, K., and Pan, T. Y. Application of Finite Element Analysis in the Design

of Automotive Elastomeric Components, Rubber Chemistry and  Technology, 1988

7) Gall, R. et al. Some Notes on the Finite Element Analysis of Tires, Tire Science and  Technology, Vol. 23 No. 3, 1995

8) Surendranath, H. and Kuessner, M. Assessment using Finite Element Analysis, Tire Technology International, 2003

9) Zhang, X., Rakheja, S., and Ganesan, R. Stress Analysis of the Multi-Layered System of a Truck Tire, Tire Science and Technology, Vol. 30 No. 4, 2002

10) Srinivas, K., Material Characterization and FEA of a Novel Compression Stress Relaxation Method to Evaluate Materials for Sealing Applications, 28th Annual Dayton-Cincinnati Aerospace Science Symposium, March 2003.

 

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