Modeling and Verification of a New Hyperelastic Model for Rubber-Like Materials

The essential evaluation criterion for the hyperelastic model is its ability to describe the mechanical behavior of rubber-like materials under different deformation modes over a large deformation range accurately. Based on the Seth strain tensor invariant, a new hyperelastic model for isotropic and incompressible rubber-like materials is proposed. In order to investigate the prediction ability of the new model, the parameters of the new model, the Yeoh model, and the Carroll model are identified by test data of 8% vulcanized rubber and two different types of carbon black filled rubber, respectively. To this end, the data of uniaxial tension and equibiaxial tension are used simultaneously. Then, the same set of model parameters is used for prediction of pure shear (plane tension) deformation. The results show that the new model not only can predict the test data of pure shear (or plane tension) accurately, but also can be reliable to describe the response of various rubber materials over a large deformation range. Finally, the finite element simulation and experiment on static stiffness of rubber bushing are carried out based on the new model. By comparison of the experimental data with the simulation data, the new model can accurately reflect the mechanical behavior of rubber bushing. The new model can be used for performance analysis of rubber products and has better application value.