Fatigue Testing of Rubber Component with Hybrid Control of Force and Displacement

Abstract

During the design and development process Mechanical fatigue testing and component life prediction are critical factors for safe and reliable behavior of component. Before being used in real-world applications, parts, components, and prototypes must be fatigue tested to determine how long they will last. A machine setup capable to generate desired load is required for the prediction of component life under continuous loading or under fatigue. The current work displays a fatigue testing system for rubber components that is powered by a pneumatic mechanism. Continuous loading is applied to a rubber component for a predetermined number of cycles, and the resulting load and distance are calculated. The entire system is further separated into two sections: electrical and mechanical. Entire setup comprises of base structure, air compressor, pneumatic cylinder actuator, proportional servo valve, buck module, load cell transducer, laser distance sensor, signal generator, DC power supply, load cell amplifier and Data Acquisition Card. Obtained parameters are transferred into an integrated computer system and Data Analysis is carried out using Lab VIEW.