Investigation on the full Mullins effect using time-dependent hyperelastic model with energy dissipation for rubber antivibration applications

Despite being investigated for many years, the Mullins effect is considered a major obstacle in understanding the behavior of rubber, especially in antivibration design and applications. It is important that not all current models relate the Mullins effect with a physical rubber property and the response is not measured in real time. In this paper, we propose a new method for antivibration applications. The full Mullins effect in the modified hyperelastic model, with stress softening and residual strain from the virgin state, is assumed to be a combination of damage, energy dissipation, and time-dependent characteristics. The measurable property of rubber (i.e. rebound resilience) is included. An industrial product, a circular rubber mount used for rail vehicles, is utilized for the experiment and simulation verification. The real-time history of the load and deflection calculated from the model is compared to the experimental data. In addition, the load-deflection responses of five consecutive cycles are extracted from the simulated historical data. To verify the proposed approach further, an overloading procedure 20% beyond specification is performed on three consecutive cycles. The comparisons between the simulation and the test data, in both the time-domain and load-deflection form, demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the proposed approach. As the hyperelastic models are widely used in industry, the modification on existing models can be easily achieved and applied to antivibration applications.