Something Different

Rubber sample in the UTM

To provide a visual representation of this data, here are some of our stress-strain graphs. These graphs illustrate one cycle (the last of 5 cycles) on the rubber, where stress is measured in cm and strain is measured in MPa.

This is different from the usual content. I’ve been at UT Dallas working on researching the noise reduction and tensile properties of prototype car tires.

We started measuring the tensile properties (that is, the stress a material can withstand before breaking) of 12 rubber samples. Each sample endured five cycles of loading and unloading of stress at 60% max strain from the UTM (universal testing machine), as illustrated above.

We started graphing the data on a stress-strain graph this week. Stress is the force applied to the material divided by the area of the material's cross-section. I like to think of it as essentially pressure, P=F/A. Strain is the deformation of the material due to applied stress.

Tensile Properties of Various Rubber Samples