DESIGN OF MECHANICAL TESTING SPECIMENS FOR RUBBER MATERIAL USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

The material properties of rubber were determined by the experiments of simple tension, simple compression tension, pure shear, equi-biaxial tension test. In simple tension test, dumbbell specimen is generally used to obtain a state of pure tensile strain. It is shown that a narrow strip specimen for length is over 10 times of the width can be also used in. In simple compression test, the effect of the friction force between the specimen and the platen is investigated. The test device with the tapered platen is proposed to overcome the effect of friction. It is verified by experimental and finite element analysis results. In pure shear tests, it is shown that the width of specimen must be at least 10 times of the height. Specimen and equipment of equi-biaxial tension was development a state of strain equivalent to pure compression.