Simple Tension Strip, or Simple Strip loaded in Tension

Sometimes in our work with elastomers, we want to cut a small strip of material from the actual component.  This is most often done to double check that the material from the actual part is similar to the test plaques, especially in terms of cure.  Depending upon the size and manufacture of the part, the cure of the part may be significantly different than the smaller test plaques created for testing purposes.The degree of cure will significantly affect the material properties.

I created this small model to mimic the test of a small strip of material loaded in tension. The model uses one half-plane of symmetry.  The image above is mirrored in Abaqus/Viewer to look like the full test strip.   In this particular case I had wanted to study some of the effects at the grips, like material deformation as the grips were applied, and then material possibly slipping out of the grips during the test.  So the grips are modeled with rigid bodies and contact and friction defined between the grips and the specimen.  This model uses two steps; the first step moves the grips towards the specimen and squeezes the material.  The second step stretches the specimen. This particular model attached to this post uses a rough friction, but I also ran some studies using various friction coefficients.  The .cae file and .inp file are contained in the attached zip file.  The .cae file is from Abaqus/CAE v6.14-1

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