Constitutive equations for dynamically loaded polymer solids and their application in a finite element program

Polymeric materials with good damping properties are used in many technology fields. For example, vibration sensitive products are often cushioned by soft polymers. The polymer damps the mechanical loadings acting on the product during transportation. To analyze the dynamic behavior of such polymeric structures numerically, the finite element method (FEM) is used. For this purpose suitable constitutive equations must be implemented into the program. In this paper constitutive equations for polymeric cushioning materials are introduced with respect to their special loading conditions.