On the response of rubbers at high strain rates—III. Effect of hysteresis

In this series of papers, we examine the propagation of waves of finite deformation in rubbers through experiments and analysis; in the present paper, Part III, the effect of hysteretic material behavior on the free retraction of prestretched rubber is considered. A rubber strip stretched to many times its initial length is released at one end and the resulting unloading is examined. A high-speed video camera was used to monitor the motion and to determine the evolution of strain and particle velocity in rubber strips. Simple waves as well as shock waves are observed in these unloading experiments. The measurements are modeled using a power-law model of the material behavior. The hysteretic material response and the formation of shocks are characterized.