Mechanical Properties Identification of Viscoelastic/Hyperelastic Materials Using Haptic Device Based Experimental Setup

Mechanical behavior simulation of viscoelastic materials is a difficult task. In order to obtain accurate simulations, material model should be well chosen and hyperelastic characteristics of the viscoelastic materials should also be incorporated in the model. Once the material model is selected the coefficients can be identified with the help of mechanical tests/experiments. The main goal of this study is to optimize material model's coefficients by using the designed indenter test setup results and inverse finite element modeling. Indenter test setup was designed by using a haptic device, force sensor and data acquisition card to test the mechanical properties of the viscoelastic/hyperelastic materials. Inverse finite element modeling method is used in order to model the materials according to their material characteristics. The model obtained from the analysis was optimized by using the data obtained from indenter tests. The conformity of the chosen model and the tested materials is shown by inverse finite element modeling and the material model coefficients are proved to be identified correctly.