A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Mechanical Behavior of Steel-Rubber Long Fiber Composites Using Finite Element Method and Analytical Models

A comprehensive study is launched to compare different simulation techniques for the mechanical behavior of steel cord/rubber composites. A brief literature review is first performed and then various developed computational methods are examined. Uncured pre-shaped steel cord/rubber specimens, collected from a tire factory, were cured with different cord angles. These test samples were tested under tensile and shear modes. In order to check the validity and accuracy of the different computational techniques, the samples were analyzed using both analytical and numerical procedures which were based on the finite element method. The results showed that the accuracy and convergence of the computational methods are highly dependent on the selected numerical approach, the angle between cord and direction of applied load and also the hyperelastic or hyperviscoelastic model used to describe the mechanical behavior of the rubbery part. None of these models could predict nonlinear behavior of the cord/rubber composites in shear mode. Therefore, developing new constitutive models for this purpose is necessary.