Thermomechanical characterisation of cellular rubber

This contribution discusses an experimental possibility to characterise a cellular rubber in terms of the influence of multiaxiality, rate dependency under environmental temperature and its behaviour under hydrostatic pressure. In this context, a mixed open and closed cell rubber based on an ethylene propylene diene monomer is investigated exemplarily. The present article intends to give a general idea of the characterisation method and the considerable effects of this special type of material. The main focus lies on the experimental procedure and the used testing devices in combination with the analysis methods such as true three-dimensional digital image correlation. The structural compressibility is taken into account by an approach for a material model using the Theory of Porous Media with additional temperature dependence.