Rubber Elasticity

Experiments with rubber balloons and rubber sheets have led to surprising observations, some of them hitherto unknown or not previously described in the literature.

In the case of an ideal rubber, one often thinks of the linear dependence of the shear modulus on temperature as an expression of the typical entropy elasticity. However, temperature dependencies of typical technical rubber materials are known to be much more complicated. This has consequences for the practical behaviour of rubber-elastic components. One well-known instance of this is the dramatic Challenger disaster. The rubber used to seal the solid rocket booster joints with O-rings did not expand at temperatures of 0 °C or below, resulting in an opening in the solid rocket booster joint through which gas attempted to escape.

In the case of an ideal rubber, one often thinks of the linear dependence of the shear modulus on temperature as an expression of the typical entropy elasticity. However, temperature dependencies of typical technical rubber materials are known to be much more complicated. This has consequences for the practical behaviour of rubber-elastic components. One well-known instance of this is the dramatic Challenger disaster. The rubber used to seal the solid rocket booster joints with O-rings did not expand at temperatures of 0 °C or below, resulting in an opening in the solid rocket booster joint through which gas attempted to escape.

The book provides important practical skills and will be useful for postgraduate and higher-level science and engineering students. Relevant topics and their applications are considered: theory, simulation, characterization, composites, single crystals, nanoindentation, and dielectric elastomers. Examples are provided of the elasticity of materials including composites, single crystals, auxetics, and dielectric elastomers.

More than fifty years ago, Professor R. S. Rivlin pioneered developments in both the theory and experiments of rubber elasticity. These together with his other fundamental studies contributed to a revitalization of the theory of finite elasticity, which had been dormant, since the basic understanding was completed in the nineteenth century.