Identification of Rubber Material Properties within Automotive Components

The present project deals with the mechanical characterization of elastomere materials. An original method is proposed to identify the material parameters. It consists of performing only one mechanical of an automotive component containing an elastomere material, measuring the displacement/strain field using Digital Image Correlation software. The measured displacements are compared with a simulation results and the mechanical parameters are identified by minimizing the gap between the experiment and simulation results.The proposed methodology is expected to improve the design process of automotive components. The industrial and the academic partners will benefit in developing a new methodology that have the potential to reduce the coast of design and development of new components. The industrial partner will benefit particularly by exploring a new methodology of displacements and strains measurements. The main feature of the proposed identification method is to avoid cutting out a specimen as it is required by classical approaches.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Ghrib Faouzi

Student:

Wafa Polies

Partner:

Chrysler Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Automotive and transportation

University:

University of Windsor