Fatigue Life Evaluation of Automotive Engine Mount Insulator

Abstract

Fatigue life of automotive engine mount insulator made of natural rubber was evaluated. In order to develop an appropriate fatigue damage parameter of the rubber material, a series of displacement controlled fatigue tests was conducted using 3-dimensional dumbbell specimens with different levels of mean displacement. It was shown that the maximum Green-Lagrange strain was a proper damage parameter, taking the mean displacement effects into account. Nonlinear finite element analyses of the rubber engine mount insulator and 3D dumbbell specimen were performed based on a hyper-elastic material model determined from the simple and equi-biaxial tension tests. Fatigue life prediction of the engine mount insulator was made by incorporating the maximum Green-Lagrange strain values, which was evaluated from the finite element analysis and fatigue tests, respectively. Predicted fatigue lives of the engine mount insulator showed a fairly good agreement with the experimental fatigue lives.