A practical, universal method for predicting the fatigue life of elastomeric components—Dynamic stored energy and complex modulus concepts applied to swollen elastomers and smart elastomers

Today's elastomers are often complex materials offering diverse properties, increasing the possibilities for engineering designers and manufacturers to use rubber in innovative ways. When fulfilling roles in actuation and sensing and consequently experiencing pronounced cyclic loading, resilience is of critical importance. This prompted the question: could the hypotheses based on dynamic stored energy and life limiting complex modulus be developed to offer a reliable fatigue predictor for all elastomers including swollen rubbers and smart elastomers? Firstly, research into fatigue in rubbers subjected to oil swelling substantiated that the method was applicable to elastomers in that state. Significantly, investigations into the determination of fatigue life in magnetorheological elastomers confirmed that the original formula could be extended to this category of smart materials. Moreover, the novel approach was applicable to any elastomer containing hard particles. Hence, a universal fatigue predictor for all elastomers based on dynamic stored energy was validated by this research.