A new constitutive model describing the rate-, temperature- and strain- dependent behaviour of polymeric sealing materials

The continuous advancement of virtual simulation platforms is a fundamental aspect of the ongoing global digitalization megatrend. To broaden the applicability of these plat-forms to sealing applications, there is a need for more comprehensive material models that can describe the complex and diverse behaviour exhibited by various polymeric ma-terials used in sealing products, such as elastomers, thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) and PTFE. To address this need, a new generalized modelling framework and approach is introduced in this paper. The proposed approach allows different aspects of the model to be modified, tailoring to the material being studied. The model demonstrates a remark-able potential to accurately describe the strain rate, temperature, and strain dependent behaviour of a chosen seal material, PTFE, within the relevant conditions experimentally covered.