Abstract
This study focuses on the constitutive modeling of a polymeric material-polyester elastomer (P-EM)-that exhibits temperature-dependent and visco-hyperelastic behavior. The material is experimentally characterized over a range of temperatures and loading rates-from-10℃ to 55℃ and at strain rates between (10)^<-2> and (10)^<-3>/s. The experimental results show that for compression to engineering strains of 40%, the behavior of P-EM is sensitive to both strain rate and temperature. The elastomer is assumed to be incompressible and a hyperelastic material model describes its finite deformation behavior. The WLF equation is used to model temperature dependence, while strain rate sensitivity is characterized by incorporating Maxwell relaxation elements. This approach involves eight material parameters, two of them to define temperature dependence and six to describe visco-hyperelasticity, these are determined from customized test methods. The fully defined material model is then incorporated into a commercial simulation software (ABAQUS) to predict the one-dimensional dynamic response of P-EM at different temperatures and strain rates. Comparison with experimental data shows that there is good agreement and that this model is able to describe the thermo-visco-hyperelastic behavior of the material examined.
