The focus of this research was to investigate the effect of thermal degradation upon the mechanical properties of natural rubber compounds and apply those effects to the life prediction of off axis 2-ply cord rubber laminates. The work examined both the quasi-static and dynamic mechanical properties of two natural rubber vulcanizates, which had been subjected to isothermal anaerobic aging. Thermal aging was performed on two different natural rubber vulcanizates. The thermal aging was conducted between the temperatures of 80 and 120°C for times ranging from 3 to 24 days. The effect of thermal degradation was measured from the changes in the chemical composition of the vulcanizates as functions of time at temperature. A master curve relationship between the changes in the chemical composition of the vulcanizates due to thermal degradation and their static and dynamic mechanical properties has been developed. This relationship allowed for the prediction of the vulcanizate mechanical properties after thermal aging. It was found that the mechanical properties correlated with the percentage of poly and monosulfidic crosslinks, where in general higher levels of polysulfidic crosslink gave rise to the highest mechanical properties. Crack propagation in an aged and unaged natural rubber vulcanizate was measured using a double cantilever beam, DCB. This type of testing arrangement exhibits a plane strain condition and resulted in crack growth rates two orders of magnitude faster than traditional plane stress testing geometries. To validate the DCB specimens, an investigation into the potential cavitation inside the rubber of the DCB specimens was performed. It was found that no cavitation occurred due to the high speed of the fracture. DCB samples were thermally aged to determine the effect of thermal aging upon the crack growth rate. It was found that crack growth rates increase with thermal aging. Life prediction of the aged 2-ply laminates was performed using a finite element analysis. In order to verify the finite element models used in the life prediction, the fatigue failure and crack growth characteristics of off axis 2-ply cord-rubber laminates were examined with a delamination analysis. This analysis allowed for the determination of the modulus of off axis 2-ply laminates in the presence of damage as well as the calculation of the crack growth rates of the laminate. The failure of unaged and thermally aged 2-ply laminates was evaluated and compared to the crack growth rates of thermally aged DCB specimens. The trend due to thermal aging between the two types of testing specimens was consistent. The finite element analysis was sectioned into two approaches: crack initiation and crack propagation. The former utilized a residual strength approach, while the latter applied a fracture mechanics approach. The predicted stress versus cycles, S-N, curves were not in complete agreement with the experimental data. The error between the predicted and the experimental is discussed and future work to correct that error is suggested. While there was not complete agreement between the predicted and the experimental data, this dissertation outlines a comprehensive approach to track the effects of thermal degradation and apply those effects to a real world application. / Ph. D.

Les détériorations d'un pneu occasionnées par le roulement sur des chaussées accidentées est un problème crucial pour l'industrie des pneumatiques. Les couches de composite à matrice élastomère renforcée par des câbles d'acier architecturés sous forme de nappe de ceinturage, ont pour objet de protéger le pneu d'éventuelles pénétrations par des projectiles extérieurs. Cependant le comportement de ces nappes composites reste mal connu surtout quand il s'agit de mécanismes d'endommagement par chocs. Pour améliorer cette connaissance, cette thèse s'est proposée d'étudier le comportement mécanique des constituants ainsi que du composite lorsque ces matériaux sont soumis à des tractions grandes vitesses et des essais d'impact. Les mécanismes d'endommagements ont été analysés. Les analyses expérimentales et les simulations numériques ont permis de mieux comprendre le comportement dynamique et les mécanismes d'endommagement sous des sollicitations rapides, d'impact et d'indentation. Issu de ces essais, un critère capable de prévoir la perforation de la nappe de ceinturage a été proposé. Sa validation a été faite sur des essais effectués sur des composites élastomères ceinturés de ces nappes. / Road hazard is a critical problem in tire application. Steel cord-rubber composite such as steel belt is used to reinforce the tire stiffness in architecture of the radial tire. The main function is used to protect penetrations due to foreign objects. In fact, the knowledge of this material is not well-established yet in particular damage mechanisms subjected to impact load. The principal objective of this dissertation is to study high strain rate behaviors, impact behaviors as well as damage mechanisms of the steel cord-rubber composite, allowing us to develop a perforation criterion. The experimental analysis and numerical simulations allow us to thoroughly understand the dynamic behaviors and damage mechanisms for instance high stain rate tensile characterization, drop-weight impact and indentation characterizations, damage observation etc... In order to develop a criterion capable of predicting the perforation of the steel cord-rubber composite, the drop-weight impact tests and indentation tests have been conducted. Finally, we propose the perforation criterion based on analytical approach and its validation for the steel cord-rubber composite.

In recent years, composite materials have been widely used in several applications due to their superior mechanical properties including high strength, high stiffness, and low density. Despite the remarkable advancements in theoretical and computational methods for analyzing composites, investigating the effect of lamina properties and lay-up configurations on the strength of composites still remains an active field of research. Finite Element Method (FEM) and Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) are powerful tools for solving the boundary value problems. One of the objectives of this work is to employ XFEM as a defect identification tool for predicting the crack initiation and propagation in composites. Another major objective of this study is to investigate the damage development in hyperelastic materials. Two Finite Element models are adopted to study this phenomenon: multiscale modeling of the cord-rubber composites in tires and modeling of intelligent tires for evaluating the feasibility of the proposed defect detection technique. A new three-dimensional finite element approach based on the multiscale progressive failure analysis is employed to provide the theoretical predictions for damage development in the cord-rubber composites in tires. This new three-dimensional model of the cord-rubber composite is proposed to predict the different types of damage including matrix cracking, delamination, and fiber failure based on the micro-scale analysis. This process is iterative and data is shared between the finite element and multiscale progressive failure analysis. It is shown that the proposed cord-rubber composite model solves the problems corresponding to embedding the rebar elements to the solid elements and also increases the fidelity of numerical analysis of composite parts since the laminate characteristic variables are determined from the microscopic parameters. A tire rolling analysis is then conducted to evaluate the effects of different variables corresponding to the cord-rubber composite on the performance of tires. Tires operate on the principle of safe life and are the only parts of the vehicle which are in contact with the road surface. Establishing a computational method for defect detection in tire structures will help manufacturers to fix and develop more reliable tire designs. A Finite Element model of a tire with a tri-axial accelerometer attached to its inner-liner was developed and the effects of changing the normal load, longitudinal velocity and tire-road contact friction on the acceleration signal were investigated. Additionally, using the model, the acceleration signals obtained from several accelerometers placed in different locations around the inner-liner of the intelligent tire were analyzed and the defected areas were successfully identified. Using the new intelligent tire model, the lengths, locations, and the minimum number of accelerometers in damage detection in tires are determined. Comparing the acceleration signals obtained from the damaged and original tire models results in detecting defects in tire structures. / PHD

Neben Reifen, Riemen und Schläuchen zählen speziell auch die Balgwände von Luftfedern zu den Kompositen, da deren weiche Elastomermatrix zur Verstärkung Gewebelagen aus textilen Corden enthält. Diese Verstärkungsträger bestehen aus miteinander verzwirnten Garnen, die ihrerseits einen Zwirn aus polymeren Filamenten darstellen. Luftfederbälge weisen dementsprechend eine hochkomplexe innere Geometrie auf und sind zudem durch stark anisotropes, nichtlineares Materialverhalten gekennzeichnet. Für die strukturmechanische Simulation von Luftfedern mit der Finite-Elemente-Methode (FEM) werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit neuartige, hochauflösende Modelle entwickelt, die diesen Eigenschaften Rechnung tragen. Zunächst wird ein mathematisches Modell formuliert, das die verzwirnte Geometrie von Corden auf allgemeinen räumlichen Bahnkurven beschreibt und mithilfe dessen sich auch die lokale Orientierung der Filamente bestimmen lässt. Zur konstitutiven Modellierung des Filamentmaterials wird zudem ein transversal isotropes, hyperelastisches Materialmodell so modifiziert, dass bei Druckbelastung in Filamentrichtung nur noch die der Regularisierung dienende, isotrope Grundsteifigkeit zum Tragen kommt. Das Geometriemodell der Corde ist die Basis für deren dreidimensionale Abbildung in FE-Netzen von Luftfederbälgen. Als erster Schwerpunkt wird ein auf zyklischer Symmetrie basierendes Streifenmodell entwickelt, das die Cordgeometrie im gesamten Balg vollständig auflöst. Ein besonderes Augenmerk gilt dabei der Generierung konformer Netze, um die Grenzflächen zwischen Matrix und Corden exakt darzustellen. Das Streifenmodell ermöglicht somit detaillierte Analysen zur lokalen Verteilung von Spannungen und Verzerrungen im Inneren der Balgwand. Als zweiter Schwerpunkt wird diese Art der Modellierung auf einen kleinen rechteckigen Ausschnitt der Balgwand übertragen. Dieser Teppich ist als Submodell konzipiert, das Verschiebungen für seine Schnittränder aus einem vereinfachten Globalmodell bezieht und demzufolge die Analyse allgemeiner, nicht axialsymmetrischer Lastfälle möglich macht. Abschließend werden die Modelle anhand einer Rollbalgluftfeder für Busanwendungen eingehend untersucht und einem Praxistest zum Vergleich zweier Konstruktionsvarianten unterzogen. / Tires, belts, hoses and, in particular, air spring bellows are regarded as composites due to layers of reinforcing textile cords that are embedded in a soft elastomer matrix. These cords are produced by twisting yarns which, for their part, represent a twisted structure of polymeric filaments. Hence, air spring bellows feature a highly complex internal geometry as well as strongly anisotropic, nonlinear material behavior. For structural simulations of air springs by means of the finite element method (FEM), new high resolution models are developed here, which reflect all the aforementioned properties. At first, a mathematical model capable of representing the twisted geometry of cords on three-dimensional curves is introduced, which also allows to derive local filament orientations. For the constitutive description of filament material, a transversally isotropic, hyperelastic material model is modified so that only the small isotropic stiffness introduced for regularization remains in case of compressive loads in filament direction. The cord geometry model serves as the basis for their three-dimensional representation in FE meshes of air spring bellows. Firstly, the focus lies on developing a slice model relying on cyclic symmetry, which takes cord geometry into account throughout the entire bellows. Special emphasis is put on building conforming meshes in order to incorporate all material interfaces explicitly. As a result, the slice model allows for detailed analyses of local stress and strain distribution inside the bellows. Secondly, this type of modeling is applied to a rectangular section of the bellows. This carpet is conceived as a submodel acquiring the displacements to be imposed on its cut faces from a simplified global model, and therefore provides the opportunity to analyze general load cases not complying with axial symmetry. Based on a rolling lobe air spring used in bus applications, both models are examined thoroughly and, at last, subjected to a practical test comparing two different designs.