Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) and Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) Short course on the Behaviour of Rubber Materials

The Rubber Materials Short Course will be held concurrently with Tire Technology Expo 2013 in Cologne, Germany on 4 and 5 February 2013 – commencing one day before the expo and main conference.

 

Course Rates

Pass type	Full rate
2-day Short course	€975
2-day Short course plus open pass to all Tire Technology conference sessions	€1555

 

The course:

The performance requirements for engineered rubber products such as tires have continuously increased over the last few decades and are set to continue to increase. The conflicting demands of weight reduction and reduced rolling resistance, coupled with increases in abrasion resistance and wet and dry friction performance, make the tire designer’s life difficult. All rubber components have to be designed and manufactured using robust engineering principles to ensure that they comply with the expected performance and lifetime requirements. This course is designed specifically to give a detailed overview of all the core concepts involved in the design of rubber products.

Course schedule :

Day 1 - Monday 4 February

9:00-9:45 - Lecture 1 - Polymers, elastomers and rubbers - James Busfield

Identifying what these materials are and how they are used.
Which elastomers are commonly used in tire and non-tire products? Introduction of issues related to materials selection, compounding, the role of fillers and oils as well as a brief overview of rubber processing.

9:45-10:30 - Lecture 2 - Thermodynamics of elastomers - Alan Muhr

The basic thermal properties that control rate of cure and susceptibility to heat build-up; glassy and rubbery states; thermodynamics as a source for useful interrelationships; solubility parameters; connection between thermodynamics and statistical physics.

10:30-11:00 - Morning break

11:00-12:30 - Lecture 3 - Physics of rubber elasticity - James Busfield

Building up an elasticity model from a consideration of a single molecule to represent the behaviour of a macromolecular network. Effects of different types of fillers on the stress-strain behaviour.

12:30-13:30 - Lunch

13:30-14.15 - Lecture 4 - Finite strain elasticity theory - Alan Muhr

The use of stored energy functions to show how general deformations can be modelled or analysed during product design. Advice on which phenomenological approaches work best for real materials and applications.

14:15-15:00 - Lecture 5 - Inelastic behaviour - Alan Muhr

The time-dependent behaviour of rubber materials including creep and stress relaxation as well as dynamic properties and damping.

15:00-15:30 - Afternoon break

15:30-17:00 - Lecture 6 - Strength and fatigue of elastomers - James Busfield

Determining the limiting strength of an elastomer and extending the approach to predict fatigue crack growth. What factors influence these behaviours and how can laboratory tests be related to failure seen in a product?

Day 2 - Tuesday 5 February

9:00-10:30 - Lecture 7 - Design with rubber materials -James Busfield & Alan Muhr

The design of simple rubber components to meet requirements such as specific stiffness and damping, minimisation of vibration transmission, and pressure, load or deflection capacity. The large bulk modulus can be exploited to produce laminated components meeting demanding specifications for high stiffness anisotropy, and cord reinforcement can be used to produce membranes with high pressure ratings.

10:30-11:00 - Morning break

11:00-12:30 - Lecture 8 - Failure of elastomer products - James Busfield & Alan Muhr

An overview of the typical failure modes that can arise in normal service such as rupture, heat build-up, chemical ageing and bond failure.

12:30-13:30 - Lunch

13:30-14:30 - Lecture 9 - Friction and abrasion - James Busfield

Insight into friction is provided by application of dynamic stress-strain behaviour, contact mechanics and interfacial energetics, together with considerations of small scale, high frequency and the macromechanics of the system. Abrasion combines all these complexities of friction with those of strength and fatigue.

14:30–15:30 - Lecture 10 - Testing rubber materials and components - Alan Muhr

The design process is underpinned by the provision of suitable materials behaviour. The various pitfalls that are commonly encountered and advice on how to make suitable measurements are given.

15:30-16:00 - Afternoon break

16:00-17:00 - Question and answer session with the Basic Rubber Technology course