A Hyper-Elastic Creep Approach and Characterization Analysis for Rubber Vibration Systems

Rubber materials are extensively utilized for vibration mitigation. Creep is one of the most important physical properties in rubber engineering applications, which may induce failure issues. The purpose of this paper is to provide an engineering approach to evaluate creep performance of rubber systems. Using a combination of hyper-elastic strain energy potential and time-dependent creep damage function, new creep constitutive models were developed. Three different time-decay creep functions were provided and compared. The developed constitutive model was incorporated with finite element analysis by user subroutine and its engineering potential for predicting the creep response of rubber vibration devices was validated. Quasi-static and creep experiments were conducted to verify numerical solutions. The time-dependent, temperature-related, and loading-induced creep behaviors (e.g., stress distribution, creep rate, and creep degree) were explored. Additionally, the time–temperature superposition principle was shown. The present work may enlighten the understanding of the creep mechanism of rubbers and provide a theoretical basis for engineering applications.