Stress relaxation testing of rubber materials

Stress relaxation tests on (rubber) materials are becoming more and more popular for determining the properties of rubber materials. From the beginning, stress relaxation tests were used mainly in scientific projects at universities, but a growing use has been shown in recent years and this may be caused by the introduction of stress relaxation tests in different product standards, such as sealing rings for pipes.

When a constant strain is applied to rubber, the force necessary to maintain that strain is not constant but decreases with time, this behavior is called "stress relaxation". The processes responsible for stress relaxation may be physical or chemical in nature, and under all normal conditions both types of process will occur simultaneously.

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