ON THE STATIC AND DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF ELA STOMERIC COMPONENTS WITH CONSIDERATION OF LARGE DEFORMATIONS

The increasing importance of elastomeric components in various industr ial fields resulted in the intensification of elastomer research. Foll owing this trend the Fraunhofer-Institute for Strength of Structures u nder Operational Conditions has investigated questions of the mechanic al behaviour and the fatigue strength of elastomeric components more i ntensively during the last few years. This report gives a short summar y of some results from these investigations. Methods and procedures we re developed to describe the material behaviour and to identify materi al parameters. Extensive investigations were carried out in the field of structural analysis, numerical simulation and fatigue life predicti on of elastomeric components. Experimental and numerical methods are c ombined to obtain meaningful results.