Thermo-mechanical behaviour of rubber materials during vulcanization

This work focusses on the description of the reaction kinetics and thermomechanical effects during the vulcanization process of rubber materials. Based on the concept of internal variables a model for predicting the local state of vulcanization depending on the temperature history is introduced. Furthermore, a continuum-mechanical material model is presented that includes viscous and inelastic effects. The model is able to cover the material behaviour in the uncured and in the cured state and includes the dependance on temperature. From a set of experiments the parameters of this constitutive model are determined for a selected rubber material on the basis of a genetic algorithm.