Rubber material model development for closure bumpstop

Abstract: In vehicle development process, closures slam durability is one of the important measurement for BIW & closure design. In Closure slam simulation event, the majority of dynamic forces absorbed through rubber seals and rubber bump-stops which are typically mounted in-between the closure system and BIW. These auxiliary components also provide the cushioning to the structure and protect it from the panel interaction during abusive closure slam. In conventional CAE Simulation process, the stiffness of rubber bumpstop oftenly represented with linear stiffness data which does not capture rubber behavior during loading and unloading for both static and dynamic event. Thus, it provides an opportunity to develop the numerical material model for better rubber behavior simulation. This paper details the experimental testing of rubber material coupons under different states of strain rate. The generated hyper-elastic & viscoelastic material coefficient from experimental test data are used to develop CAE material model . This material model aids in simulating the rubber behavior more accurately under varying strain rate for static and dynamic event. This will further help in minimizing the overall product development time and cost.