Comparison of Test Specimens for Characterizing the Dynamic Properties of Rubber

Dynamic material properties inferred via experiment can be strongly influenced by the choice of test specimen geometry unless care is taken to ensure that mechanical fields (stress, strain, etc.) within the specimen adequately reflect the ideal homogeneous deformation state. In this work, finite element models of simple shear, cylindrical compression, simple tension, and bi-conical shear test specimens were analyzed in order to quantify the relative conformity of each specimen to its corresponding ideal. Three metrics of conformity were evaluated, based respectively on the distributions of stress, strain, and strain energy density. The results show that a simple shear specimen provides superior conformity. Other factors involved in the selection of test specimen geometry are also discussed. Such factors include relative linearity and symmetry of measured stress–strain data, grip slip, and heat build up.