Enhanced Rebound Resilience: A Novel Approach

Abstract

The rebound test is a widely used method for evaluating hysteresis losses in rubber samples. However, the fundamental limitation of the conventional rebound test is that only a proportion of dissipated energy is measured. This paper presents an improvement to the traditional rebound elasticity test, with a focus on implementing a high-resolution measurement technique and optimizing the mechanical setup. The present extension of the classic setup focuses on the precise detection of the contact between the pendulum hammer and the rubber sample. The high-resolution detection of the contact between the hammer and the sample enables the exact analytical determination of the time-dependent deformation on the sample.

In this work, we present a special method for the analytical description of the measured, discrete, time-dependent deformation of the sample, which enables direct calculation of the forces acting on the sample. Using the theoretical description of the Hertzian contact¹ for viscoelastic media by Argatov², the complex Young's modulus for the pulse-like deformation occurring during contact can be calculated from the time-dependent deformation.

In the experimental part of the work, a series of measurements were carried out on vulcanizates filled with carbon black, varying both the filler type and the filler content and crosslinking densities. The results clearly confirm that this extended measurement and analysis technique provides access to the characterization of the complex mechanical behavior of filled vulcanizates in the millisecond time range at high deformations, which is highly relevant for a wide range of industrial applications and not accessible with conventional measurement techniques.