Nonuniform distribution of stress and strain is produced during deformation of rubber composite material. Hence, it is important to study on the fundamental deformation behaviour, especially the distribution of stress and strain in the rubber composite material. In the present paper, the deformation of rubber composite material is analysed numerically with the Mooney-Rivlin type strain energy function. The finite element method is used for the numerical simulation.
Plane model of inhomogeneous material is adopted as a model of rubber composite material. Rectangular inhomogeneous regions are assumed to be placed regularly in the model. The applied stress is assumed to be uniaxial tension. It is found that the mode of deformation comes close to that of constant strain as the shape of the inhomogeneous region becomes slender in the stress direction. The mutual constraint between the inhomogeneous regions is weaker for the material with Mooney-Rivlin type stress-strain relation than that with the linear elastic stress-strain relation.
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