Mechanical Properties of Polymer Rubber Materials Based on a New Constitutive Model

Abstract

A new constitutive model, which is a modification from Gao's second constitutive model, has been introduced by using the finite deformation theory. The new model fulfils the condition that strain energy becomes zero under no deformation. For incompressible polymer rubber materials, when n=1 and a=0, the new constitutive relation may be simplified to the Mooney-Rivlin model; when n=1 and α=1, the new constitutive relation may be simplified to the Neo-Hookean model. The discussions of basic finite deformation examples illustrate how the new constitutive model reasonably describes the deformation properties of polymer rubber materials, and how the applied range of polymer rubber materials have been broadened by using the new constitutive model.