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Elastomer biaxial characterization using bubble inflation technique. I: Experimental investigations
Author(s) -
Reuge N.,
Schmidt F. M.,
Le Maoult Y.,
Rachik M.,
Abbé F.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.10749
Subject(s) - rheometer , bubble , materials science , elastomer , rheology , composite material , curvature , radius of curvature , mechanics , physics , geometry , mean curvature , mathematics , mean curvature flow
The biaxial rheological behavior of materials such as elastomers or polymers can be obtained using a bubble‐inflation‐technique. A circular membrane is clamped at the rim and expanded under gas pressure. The inflation of the circular membrane is recorded using a CCD video camera and the blowing pressure by a pressure sensor. Then, from elongation and curvature radius measurement at the pole of the bubble, one can deduce equibixial stress‐strain data. This study describes the optimization of a bubble‐inflation rheometer. The most sensitive point of the technique is the estimation of the elongation at the bubble pole, deduced from video camera measurements. A direct measurement of the bubble thickness was performed using a magnetic probe in order to validate rheometer results. Such a validation has evidently never been carried out before. Results of quasi‐static equibiaxial characterisation of elastomers are presented and analyzed.