Rubber-like materials are submitted to cyclic loading conditions in various applications. Fillers are always incorporated within rubber compounds. They improve the mechanical properties but induce a significant stress-softening under cyclic loadings. The physical source of the softening is not yet established and its modeling remains a challenge. For a better understanding of the softening, filled rubbers are submitted to cyclic loadings. In order to quantify the effects of the loading intensity and the number of cycles, original methods are proposed to characterize the softening. To study the influence of the material microstructure on the softening, compounds with various compositions are considered.Non proportional tensile tests including uniaxial and biaxial loading paths are applied in order to highlight the softening induced anisotropy. Such unconventional experimental data are used to provide a general criterion for the softening activation. A constitutive modeling grounded on a thorough analysis of experimental data is proposed. The model is based on a directional approach. The Mullins softening is accounted for by the strain amplification concept and is activated by a directional criterion. The model ability to predict non proportional softened material responses is demonstrated

Les applications pour lesquelles des élastomères sont soumis à des sollicitations cycliques sont nombreuses. Des charges sont généralement utilisées afin d'améliorer leurs propriétés, cependant, elles induisent également un adoucissement important de la contrainte lors de sollicitations cycliques. A ce jour, les phénomènes physiques conduisant à l’apparition de cet adoucissement ne sont pas clairement établis et sa modélisation demeure une difficulté majeure.Afin d'étudier l'adoucissement, des élastomères chargés sont soumis à des chargements cycliques. Des méthodes de caractérisations originales sont proposées afin de quantifier les effets de l'intensité du chargement et du nombre de cycles. Pour faire le lien avec la microstructure du matériau, plusieurs mélanges de compositions différentes sont utilisés. Des chargements non proportionnels de traction uniaxiale et biaxiale sont appliqués afin de mettre en évidence l'anisotropie induite par l'adoucissement. Ces données expérimentales non conventionnelles sont utilisées afin de définir un critère général pour l'activation de l'adoucissement Mullins. Une loi de comportement fondée sur une analyse approfondie des données expérimentales est proposée. La modélisation est basée sur une approche directionnelle. L'adoucissement Mullins est modélisé en utilisant le concept d'amplification de la déformation et son activation est pilotée par un critère directionnel. La capacité du modèle à prédire les réponses d'un matériau ayant subit un historique de chargement non proportionnel est validée / Rubber-like materials are submitted to cyclic loading conditions in various applications. Fillers are always incorporated within rubber compounds. They improve the mechanical properties but induce a significant stress-softening under cyclic loadings. The physical source of the softening is not yet established and its modeling remains a challenge. For a better understanding of the softening, filled rubbers are submitted to cyclic loadings. In order to quantify the effects of the loading intensity and the number of cycles, original methods are proposed to characterize the softening. To study the influence of the material microstructure on the softening, compounds with various compositions are considered.Non proportional tensile tests including uniaxial and biaxial loading paths are applied in order to highlight the softening induced anisotropy. Such unconventional experimental data are used to provide a general criterion for the softening activation. A constitutive modeling grounded on a thorough analysis of experimental data is proposed. The model is based on a directional approach. The Mullins softening is accounted for by the strain amplification concept and is activated by a directional criterion. The model ability to predict non proportional softened material responses is demonstrated