The Influence of Material Model of the Polyurethane Elastomer on the FEM Calculations Quality for the Various Modes of Loading

The paper presents research to verify the effectiveness of nine selected material models of elastomeric materials based on uniaxial tension test. Basing on the cyclic uniaxial tension test of elastomers sample, the stress-strain characteristic for the 18th load cycle was prepared. On the basis of the obtained characteristic, the values of material constants were calculated for the studied models (Neo-Hookean, Mooney with two and three constants, Signorini, Yeoh, Ogden, Arruda-Boyce, Gent and Marlow) and simulation of tensile, upsetting and bending processes was performed with the usage of the software MARC/Mentat. The effectiveness of the selected models was determined based on a comparison of results obtained in the experimental tensile test, upsetting test and bending test of an elastomeric samples with the results of numerical FEM calculations for each models. The research has shown that, for modeling of the elastomeric cylinder upsetting in the range of deformation of 62%, the best results with the comparison of the experiment were obtained by using the Yeoh model. In the bending process none of the analyzed models indicate a high convergence of results from an experiment. Analyzing the characteristics of the experimental and numerical tensile test it can be seen that in the entire range of punch movement (0 to 55 mm), models Signorini, Marlow, Ogden(N3) and Mooney(3) give the best results.