Solver Focuses on Elastomer and Rubber Fatigue and Durability

Dear DE Reader:

Rubber and elastomers have become interchangeable words and, like your galoshes, you don’t want a failure when they’re in use. To predict elastomer durability and fatigue life, engineers need to understand the effects of a goulash of phenomena ranging from the inherent nonlinear behavior of elastomers to amplitude or multiaxial loading. If elastomers are your gig, today’s Check it Out link is where the rubber meets the road.

Endurica has pioneered elastomeric fatigue life prediction code. Endurica CL, their commercial simulation software, is a full-featured solver providing elastomer fatigue analysis upfront in your design cycle. The company also offers consulting and characterization services, training and fully supported testing systems. In April, they’re doing a class with the SAE on rubber fatigue analysis and another on characterizing elastomer fatigue.

You get it. They got the chops. If you don’t know them, here’s what to do.

The Endurica website has the scoop on Endurica CL, including explanations of its underlying technologies, details on the company’s characterization protocols and so forth. Read the case studies under the Software tab. They’re techno-rich, not marketing fluff.

Next, watch a few of the brief videos on Endurica’s YouTube channel and see Endurica CL in action. Here are four notable presentations.

“What to Measure in Fatigue Testing of Elastomers” explains what you need to do to prepare for fatigue simulations of rubber.

“Critical Plane Analysis—Get Durability Right Before the Boss Calls.” The critical plane analysis method helps you make fatigue life predictions for elastomers operating under multiaxial, variable amplitude loads. This video explains how you use and benefit from this methodology.

Endurica CL is FEA (finite element analysis) code neutral. The next two videos show it working with widely deployed engineering tools.

“Fatigue Analysis of a Rubber CV Boot.” This is a step-by-step fatigue analysis demo features Endurica CL working with Abaqus/CAE from Dassault Systemes SIMULIA. BTW, Dassault distributes and supports the Endurica fe-safe/Rubber fatigue solver.

“Fatigue Analysis of an Elastomer Seal with Endurica CL in ANSYS Workbench.” This demo lets you see what your workflow would be like when analyzing fatigue performance of a rubber door seal with Endurica CL and ANSYS.

Still, to really learn what Endurica CL can do, click the icon on the top left of any Endurica page and request a trial license. For now, hit today’s Check it Out link and begin exploring.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, DE