Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Experimental investigation on effects of elastomer components on

dynamic and mechanical properties in seismic isolator compounds
Shahram Abedi Koupai a, Ali Bakhshi a,, Vahid Valadoust Tabrizi b
a
Civil Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
b
Shayan Polymer Company, Tehran, Iran

h i g h l i g h t s

Development of steel reinforced elastomeric isolator (SREI) compounds.

Comparison between DMTA and ISO shear test results of elastomeric compounds.

Introducing an experimental approach to improvement of SREI compounds.

Research in the interstitial field between structural engineering and polymer science.

Investigation of the effect of dynamic strain on shear modulus and damping ratio of SREI compounds.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Elastomeric bearings are becoming a preferred device for isolating bridges, buildings, and sensitive equip-
Received 17 August 2016 ment structures. The technical specifications used to procure these isolators are considered as important
Received in revised form 21 November 2016 factors for the consumers. Lack of communication between structural engineers and rubber technologists,
Accepted 29 December 2016
causes structural engineers have slight understanding of rubber properties. In the present study, a num-
ber of compounds were initially designed and manufactured, based on a previously studied and manu-
factured isolator compound. The outcome of the experiments indicated the physical and mechanical
Keywords:
properties. Afterwards, the targeted improvement led to modification of the compounds formula.
Seismic isolator
Rubber bearing
Finally, the dynamic shear properties of compounds were obtained from ISO standard tests and the com-
Elastomer components parison between results, revealed the effect of compound components.
Dynamic characteristics 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mechanical properties
Experimental study

1. Introduction the possibility of protecting the structural and non-structural ele-

Rubber is one of the most important products which is cur-
rently used for various engineering purposes. The growing use of
rubber in engineering applications, results from its particular prop-
erties, such as high extensibility, high energy absorption, and toler-
able environmental resistance [1]. Materials such as steel, fabric,
cords and fiber are often combined with rubber to form compos-
ites. Elastomeric bearings, as one of these composite products,
are widely used throughout the world for seismically isolating
buildings, bridges and sensitive equipment structures. Seismic iso-
lation system and specially the steel reinforced elastomeric isola-
tors (SREIs), as the most widely used type of this system, is
continuously developing in the recent years as confirmed by the
increasing number of applications throughout the world. It shows
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bakhshi@sharif.edu (A. Bakhshi).
ments of buildings from failure, because this system provides the
flexibility and decouples the superstructures from ground motion.
Elastomeric bearings are usually designed or selected by struc-
tural engineers, who may have a firm perception of structural
requirements, but have slight understanding of the properties of
the elastomers, especially in terms of different behavior compared
to concrete and steel, when used to transfer loads. Conversely, rub-
ber technologists and polymer scientists understand the chemical
compounds and the behavior of elastomers, but they have limited
knowledge about structural requirements [2,3]. Some research
studies have been conducted on improving the properties of elas-
tomeric bearings with a focus on compound structures. Warn
and Ryan [4], Derham et al. [5], Naeim and Kelly [6] investigated
the influence of the carbon black amount on rubber properties.
They suggested that a higher level of damping was achieved
through addition of carbon black to the raw rubber during the
mixing process. Martelli [7] worked on improving bearing

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.12.184
0950-0618/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
268 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278
Nomenclature
Acc. accelerator
CB carbon black
DMA dynamic mechanical analysis
ED energy dissipated by damping
ES strain energy
EV efficient vulcanizing
Frq. frequency
G0 elastic shear modulus (storage shear modulus)
G00 loss shear modulus
G complex shear modulus
Geff effective shear modulus
heq equivalent damping ratio
NR natural rubber
PA protective agent
PBR polybutadiene rubber
characteristics using modified compounds. In situ snap back test-
ing and shake table testing has provided valuable data. Kelly [8]
reported the results of a large program of bearing testing which
was designed and was procured from several bearing manufactur-
ers in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Italy. These
were tested at EERC to determine their mechanical behavior and
to study their failure mechanisms. Payne [9,10] studied effect of
carbon black structures, degree of vulcanization and degree of dis-
persion on dynamic properties of rubber. Muhr [11] investigated
the effect of dynamic strain and carbon black loading on shear
modulus and damping of rubber compounds for engineering appli-
cations and presented rough relationship between rubber hardness
and shear modulus. Chuayjuljit et al. [12] conducted an experi-
mental study on the effect of particle size and amount of filler on
dynamic mechanical properties of vulcanized natural rubber. Nah
et al. [13] investigated the influences of carbon black loading and
cure type on the dynamic mechanical properties of styrene butadi-
ene rubber compound. Bettinali et al. [14] studied for the optimiza-
tion of the design and the performance of high damping rubber
bearings for seismic isolation. Kulak and Hughes [15] carried out
number of experimental tests on three different elastomers manu-
factured by three great companies. They find nominal mechanical
response properties and variations with strain level, loading rate,
and cycles. Sun [16] focused on experimental study on the elas-
tomer material from the steel reinforced elastomeric bridge bear-
ings. A new shear test methodology was introduced and different
hyper-elastic material models were calibrated based on these tests.
The most research studies in the field of material study of the bear-
ings, usually investigate how one component of elastomer com-
pounds influences its properties. However, no research was
found that included the investigation the effects of some com-
pound components on dynamic and mechanical properties, espe-
cially for SREIs. On the other hand, there are several standards
which give criteria for material properties for structural and bridge
bearings. EN 15129 [17] specifies material characteristics of anti-
seismic devices including elastomeric isolators; EN 1337-3 [18]
applies to elastomeric bearings and specifies the range of physical
and mechanical properties of elastomeric materials; ISO 6446 [19]
specifies requirements for rubber materials used in elastomeric
bridge bearings and ASTM 4014 [20] determines standard specifi-
cation of elastomeric materials for bridge bearings. These stan-
dards dont mention anything about effects of components of
elastomeric compounds on properties of rubber materials. There-
fore, it seems that more research is required in this field to inves-
tigate the effect of elastomer components on dynamic and
mechanical characteristics of seismic isolator compounds.
phr part per hundred rubber
Q1 maximum shear force
Q2 minimum shear force
SBR styrene butadiene rubber
SREI steel reinforced elastomeric isolator
tr thickness of one rubber layer
ts thickness of one reinforcing steel plate
X1 maximum extension
X2 minimum extension
DW area enclosed by the hysteresis loop
c shear strain
cmax maximum shear strain
d phase angle (loss angle)
g loss factor
Dynamic and mechanical properties of rubber play a very
important role in the design of SREIs. In this research, an experi-
mental investigation on effects of elastomer compound ingredients
on dynamic and mechanical properties of products is presented.
A generic compound contains elastomer(s), fillers, plasticizers,
protective agents and vulcanization additions and some other
important ingredients. On the other hand, it is important to
improve the dynamic and mechanical properties of seismic isolator
compounds such as tensile strength, damping, elongation at break,
compression set, ozone resistance, aging, adhesion to steel and
processability.
Compounding can be divided into following main systems:

Rubber system, can include one or more rubbers

Filler system, contains reinforcing filler and non-reinforcing
filler

Plasticizers

Protectants, contains antioxidants, antiozonants and inhibitors

Process aids

Cure system, contains vulcanizing agents, activators, accelera-
tors and scorch retarders.
We can improve elastomers dynamic and mechanical charac-
teristics by compounding some new ingredients or change the
ratio of the existing one.
In the current study, previously supposed compound formula of
SREI (which was previously studied and produced) was changed,
rationally and some compounds were designed and produced.
Afterwards, initial evaluation was performed after some physical
and mechanical tests. For the targeted improvement, modified
compounds were designed and manufactured. The standard test
to achieve dynamic characteristics was implemented and the
obtained results were compared. Finally, the effect of compound
components was revealed.
2. Description of compounds
In this research, one supposed base isolator of SREI type, used in
previous research [21,22], was based. This isolator was cylindrical
and its structure and specifications are presented in Fig. 1 and
Table 1.
Rubber compound of this isolator had been based on the natural
rubber (NR) and consisted of the proportioning of raw rubber
material with the vulcanization chemicals.
Basic compound ingredients are presented in Table 2. For the
compound formula, part per hundred rubber (phr) is used. This is
 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278 269

Fig. 1. Cylindrical steel reinforced isolator.

Table 1
Specifications of studied isolator.

Diameter of cylinder Diameter of steel tra Number of rubber tsb Number of steel Thickness of end Height of isolator Shape
(mm) shims (mm) (mm) layers (mm) shims plates (mm) (mm) factor
150 130 4 17 2 16 10 120 9.375
a
Thickness of one rubber layer.
b
Thickness of one reinforcing steel plate.

Table 2 Softeners or plasticizers are a great number of different materi-

Basic compound ingredients used in the present study. als such as oils, which facilitate the dispersion of fillers in the mix-
Ingredients Amount (phr) Grade Supplier ture and justify hardness and elongation of compounds [23].
NR 100 SMR 20 Ah Yau Rubber Co.
In order to improve the dynamic and mechanical properties of
Carbon black 40 N 330 Pars Co. basic compound, rubber and other chemicals were changed in pro-
Oil 15 290 Behran Co. portion or type. These targeted changes follow specific purpose as
Zinc Oxide 5 99.7% Pars Oxide Co. explained below.
Stearic acid 1.5 Rubber grade Minco Co.
Rubber: Natural rubber is the main rubber of our basic com-
Paraffinic wax 1.5 3% Oil Behran Co.
Coumarone resin 5 G 90 Nitto Chemical Co. pound. NR is widely used in mountings due to its unique combina-
Protective agent 4 4010 Lanxess Co. tion of properties [1]. It provides high strength, large stretch ratio,
Protective agent 2 TMQ Lanxess Co. outstanding fatigue resistance and high resilience, in addition to
Retarder 0.7 PVI China made proper resistance to creep. The inherent characteristics of rubber
Sulfur 2 Commercial
Accelerator 0.4 TMTD Shandong Shanxian Co.
can be modified through compounding.
Accelerator 1.5 MBT Shandong Shanxian Co. Because of above-mentioned specifications, in the new com-
pounds, NR was retained as the major part of rubber. In order to
investigate the effect of change in a part of the rubber, the most
usual rubber, i.e. styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and polybutadi-
a unit of weight for compound ingredients in relation to the rubber ene rubber (PBR) were replaced up to 30 phr, in the compounds
weight. Compounders always utilize 100 parts of rubber for all number 4 and 5, respectively.
formulas, then it is simpler to change and compare different SBR is the worlds foremost synthetic rubber and easily avail-
formulas. able worldwide [24]. It hardens with age and it is expected its loss
In this compound formula, each one of the vulcanization chem- factor to be higher compared with NR. Also PBR is commonly used
icals serves a specific purpose. The crosslinking agents (Sulfur) synthetic rubber. Polybutadiene is almost always used in blends
combine with the raw rubber to form a polymer or chain of mole- with other rubbers, a major reason being the difficulty of mixing
cules. The accelerators are used in conjunction with the crosslink- it alone. Basically, it gives low compression set property to
ing agents to control the crosslinking density and adjusting the compounds.
curing time. Fillers: Carbon black is mainly used as a reinforcing agent in
The ratio of accelerators to sulfur determines the efficiency of rubber products and improves tensile strength and abrasion resis-
vulcanizing system. In this compound, the accelerator to sulfur tance of rubber. The physical structure and particle size of CB spec-
ratio is 0.95 and it means, the vulcanizing system is semi-efficient. ify the reinforcing level of it in compounds.
Zinc oxide, in combination with Stearic acid, is required to CB is classified in several ways. One way is to classify carbon
develop the full potential of accelerator. The vulcanization inhibi- black in accordance to their levels of abrasion resistance; such as
tors (retarders) are needed to prevent premature vulcanization or super abrasion furnace (SAF), intermediate super abrasion furnace
scorching of the elastomer. Protective agents, not only protect (ISAF), and high abrasion furnace (HAF). There are other classifica-
the elastomer against oxidative degradation, but also against tions, but basically they all depend on their manufacturing process,
dynamic fatigue and degradation from ozone and heat. structure and surface area. The American Society of Testing Mate-
Fillers are necessary in order to achieve the level of properties rial (ASTM) designated ASTM numbers for rubber grade carbon
that are required for technical reasons. Carbon black (CB) is a rein- blacks. Typical grades are N110, N220, N330, N550, N660 and
forcing filler and added to modify the hardness and adjust the N990 according to ASTM D1765 [25]. The N series comprises nor-
mechanical and dynamic properties of rubber. mal curing furnace and thermal blacks. The first digit of the three
270 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278

digit number represents the particle size range, which increases as
the number becomes greater. By decreasing the CB size, the speci-
fic surface area increases and causes higher level of elastomer-filler
interactions; accordingly, it is expected to improve reinforcing
effects in compound.
By adding CB, hardness, modulus and damping increase, elonga-
tion decreases and tensile strength increases partly and then
decreases from maximum point. The N330, as the most usual high
reinforcing grade of CB had been used in the basic compound.
In this research, in order to investigate the effect of filler pro-
portion and finding the range of optimum proportion of CB, com-
pounds number 2 and 3 respectively, with increasing 15 phr and
30 phr compared to basic compound, were designed. The com-
pound number 10 was designed with less reinforcing grade of
CB, i.e. N550, to study the effect of size increasing of filler on
mechanical properties. Also, a part of CB was replaced with Silica,
as another reinforcement filler in compound number 6.
Regarding the above mentioned, N550 has less reinforcing
effects compared with the N330, and it allows to investigate this
trend. Silica (VN3) is characterized by a very high specific surface
area and it is expected to give appropriate mechanical properties.
Vulcanizing system: The vulcanization reaction causes rubber-
sulfur crosslinks. These may be mono-sulfidic (CSC), di-sulfidic
(CSSC), or polysulfidic (CSxC, where x >2) crosslinks, and
the relative amount of each crosslink type depends strongly on
the ratio of accelerator to sulfur in compounds. Consequently,
there are three classes of cure systems; conventional, efficient,
and semi-efficient vulcanization. Conventional systems use high
levels of sulfur, resulting in more polysulfidic crosslinks. Efficient
cure systems may use very low levels of sulfur to form more
mono-sulfidic and di-sulfidic crosslinks. Efficient vulcanizing (EV)
systems have more crosslink density which means there are more
links with the same amount of sulfur, compared with two other
systems. On the other hand, carbon-sulfur crosslinks have upper
bond energies than the sulfur-sulfur bonds. Consequently, efficient
systems should specify stronger crosslink and higher properties
[24,26].
The ratio of accelerator to sulfur determines the efficiency of
vulcanizing system. In the efficient vulcanizing systems, this ratio
is more than 3 while the accelerator to sulfur ratio of no more than
0.5 provides conventional system [27].
To study the effect of vulcanizing system on dynamic and
mechanical properties, compound numbers 7 and 8 were designed
with efficient and conventional vulcanizing system, respectively.
All of primary compounds, including basic compound (AB1) and
the new ones, as described above, are listed in Table 3.
3. Processing
Rubber processing is consisting of mastication and mixing. Vir-
gin rubber (NR, SBR or PBR) is very tough and therefore requires
mastication before mixing in order to adjust the viscosity. For these
compounds, mastication carried out in an open mill at ambient
temperature of factory.
The rubber first worked on the mill until a coherent band is
formed. Subsequently, another ingredients except vulcanization
agents including Sulfur, accelerators and retarder, were added to
disperse during the mixing cycle. Finally, the vulcanization agents
were mixed. When the mixing cycle is completed, the compound
was cut from the mill as sheet, cooled in place and stored, as shown
in Figs. 2 and 3.
4. Physical and mechanical tests
The physical and mechanical tests, including hardness (Fig. 4),
tensile properties (Fig. 5), compression set (Fig. 6) and aging prop-
erties were performed in the factory lab. The complete list of these
tests and relevant standard are presented in Table 4.
Hardness: Elastomer hardness is measured in degrees, by rever-
sible elastic indentation under a steel point. The durometer shore A
hardness scale, which is most commonly used, ranges from zero
(very soft) to 100 (very hard). Generally, elastomeric bearings have
durometer shore A hardness of 5070 degrees. For comparison, the
hardness of a soft pencil eraser is about 30, a rubber band is about
40, an inner tube is about 50, a tire tread is about 60, a shoe heel is
about 70 and a shoe sole is about 80 [23]. Although there is not a
direct correlation between the hardness and elastomer mechanical
behavior, this property is still used because this test is quick and
simple. Basically, as the elastomer becomes harder, it can be
expected that it stops perfectly elastic behavior and usually all
elastic modulus and damping increase.

Table 3
Primary compound formulation.

Compound no. AB1a AB2 AB3 AB4 AB5 AB6 AB7 AB8 AB10
Ingredients
NR 100 100 100 70 70 100 100 100 100
SBR 0 0 0 30 0 0 0 0 0
PBR 0 0 0 0 30 0 0 0 0
CB/N330 40 55 70 40 40 25 40 40 0
Silica/VN3 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0
CB/N550 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 40
Oil 290 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
Zinc oxide 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Stearic acid 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Paraffinic wax 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Coumarone resin 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
PAb/4010 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
PAb/TMQ 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Retarder/PVI 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
Sulfur 2 2 2 2 2 2 0.8 2.5 2
Acc.c/TMTD 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 1 0.2 0.4
Acc.c/MBT 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1 1.5
Sum. 178.6 193.6 208.6 178.6 178.6 183.6 178 178.4 178.6
a
Basic compound.
b
Protective agent.
c
Accelerator.
 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278 271

Fig. 2. Mixing on open mill.

Fig. 5. Tensile test apparatus.

Fig. 3. Cutting compound sheet and cooling in place.

Fig. 6. Compression set test instrument.

Table 4
Standard physical and mechanical tests of compounds.

Properties Description Standard

Hardness Materials resistance to penetration of ASTM
standard hardened steel rod D2240 [28]
Maximum tensile Maximum sustainable tensile stress ASTM
strength of standard specimen at break D412 [29]
Elongation at break Maximum tensile elongation of ASTM
standard specimen at break point D412 [29]
Tensile modulus Tensile modulus at 100% elongation ASTM
(100%) D412 [29]
Compression set The permanent deformation ASTM
remaining on standard specimen D395-B [30]
after specific deflection is removed
(after 22 h at 70 C in an air oven)
Aging Deterioration of some specifications ASTM
of specimen (after 7 days at 70 C in D573 [31]
an air oven)
Fig. 4. Durometer instrument for hardness test.
272 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278

Tensile properties: Although rubber is rarely used in simple
extension, this test is the most measured parameters after hard-
ness. An important advantage of the tensile test is that in one rel-
atively simple test, several useful measurements are obtained [32].
As shown in Table 4, these measurements are maximum tensile
strength, elongation at break and tensile modulus at several
selected elongations.
Compression set: The compression set test is intended to show
the ability of the rubber to recover after prolonged time under
compression. In this test, a short cylindrical test piece is held in a
compression device either under a constant force for a fixed period
of time at a specified temperature. The residual deformation
(which we avoid it, practically) is expressed as a percentage of
the original thickness of the test piece.
Aging: One of the concerns of the engineers is the expected life
of elastomers. Properties of elastomers change during service. In an
effort to study these phenomena in the laboratory, the accelerated
aging test in oven has been devised, as one of the aging tests. This
test describes one method for deterioration of rubber in an air oven
due to the combined effects of oxidative and thermal aging. The
basic principle of the test is to expose rubber test pieces to air at
an elevated temperature (70 C in this research), for specified peri-
ods of time. After aging, their physical and mechanical properties
are determined and compared to properties measured on the orig-
inal test pieces. Tensile properties and hardness both before and
after aging, are normally measured at room temperature.
The results of mentioned tests could show how our expectation
of primary designed compounds was met or not. These results are
presented in Table 5.
In order to take a closer investigation, the changes of each com-
pound properties, as compared with basic compound, are dis-
cussed below:
AB2: The increment of CB from 40 phr to 55 phr increased the
hardness (as expected) and tensile properties.
AB3: The more increment of CB to 70 phr, increased hardness
while decreased tensile properties. This change shows that the
optimum amount of CB for strength improvement purposes, is
about range of filler of AB2. The compression set has been
increased as expected.
AB4: Replacement a part of NR with SBR, increased hardness
and modulus but decreased the strength. As expected, the aging
properties were improved compared with basic compound.
AB5: Replacement a part of NR with PBR has improved the com-
pression set. The increment of hardness and modulus is not
impressive, whereas strength and elongation have reduced.
AB6: Replacement a part of CB with silica (VN3), decreased
hardness and modulus but generally, had inconsiderable change
on properties, contrary to the concept that higher specific surface
area causes improvement of mechanical properties. The effect of
this property on damping should be investigated, subsequently.
AB7: Conversion of the vulcanizing system from semi-efficient
to efficient has given improvement in compression set and aging
properties.
AB8: Conversion of the vulcanizing system from semi-efficient
to conventional increased compression set and aging properties.
This increment can cause much problem due to the vertical load
(compression) in structures.
AB10: Change of CB grade from N330 to N550, as expected, has
impaired strength and elongation but improved compression set,
slightly.
5. Modification of compounds
Regarding the above mentioned, the compounds formula
required to modify for the following reasons:

Amount of filler adjusted to optimum range which supplies
suitable mechanical properties i.e. 55 phr.

Some compounds were omitted because of negative or unac-
ceptable effects on properties.

Combination of some ingredients which improved mechanical
properties.
Due to aforementioned reasons, compound AB2 was preserved
and new compound formulas were designed as described in the
following.
AB12: This compound was designed based on AB4 (combination
of NR and SBR) with change of amount of CB to 55 phr.
AB13: It was similar to AB7 (with efficient vulcanizing system)
which adjusted amount of CB to 55 phr.
AB15: It was similar to AB6 with change of amount of CB to
50 phr and silica (VN3) to 20 phr.
AB16: It was designed with combination of all change explained
above.
Furthermore compound AB3 was preserved because it may be
possible to supply proper damping ratio in further dynamic tests.
Formulas of these compounds are listed in Table 6.
6. Physical and mechanical specification of modified
compounds
The new compounds were produced similar to mentioned pro-
cedure and standard tests which explained in previous section,
were performed. The test results are presented in Table 7.
Review of results, in this step, shows following points:

Hardness of all modified compounds has been set in the range
of 6170.

Compression set has increased because of increment of fillers.

Table 5
Physical and mechanical test results of primary compounds.

Properties Hardness Tensile strength Elongation at Tensile modulus at 100% Compression Accelerated aging (%)
(Shore A) (MPa) break (%) (MPa) set (%)
Compound Hardness Tensile Elongation at
no. strength break
AB1 51 17.8 455 1.71 27 +10 34 31
AB2 62 19.6 391 3.1 27 +5 27 25
AB3 67 16.9 364 3.24 32 +10 31 30
AB4 55 14.3 427 1.95 24 +8 29 29
AB5 54 13.6 421 1.99 22 +10 30 28
AB6 48 18.3 502 1.64 28 +9 33 30
AB7 51 19.1 480 1.49 22 +5 25 25
AB8 53 19.8 498 1.56 31 +6 40 38
AB10 53 14.6 395 2.08 25 +11 33 32
 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278 273

Table 6
Modified compound formulation.

Compound no. AB2 AB3 AB12 AB13 AB15 AB16

Ingredients
NR 100 100 70 100 100 70
SBR 0 0 30 0 0 30
CB/N330 55 70 55 55 50 70
Silica/VN3 0 0 0 0 20 0
Oil 290 15 15 15 15 15 15
Zinc oxide 5 5 5 5 5 5
Stearic acid 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Paraffinic wax 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Coumarone resin 5 5 5 5 5 5
PA/4010 4 4 4 4 4 4
PA/TMQ 2 2 2 2 2 2
Retarder/PVI 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
Sulfur 2 2 2 0.8 2 0.8
Acc./TMTD 0.4 0.4 0.4 1.0 0.4 1.0
Acc./MBT 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Sum. 193.6 208.6 193.6 193.0 208.6 208.0

Table 7
Physical and mechanical test results of modified compounds.

Properties Hardness Tensile strength Elongation at Tensile modulus at 100% Compression Accelerated aging (%)
(Shore A) (MPa) break (%) (MPa) set (%)
Compound Hardness Tensile Elongation at
no. strength break
AB2 62 19.6 391 3.1 27 +5 27 25
AB3 67 16.9 364 3.24 32 +10 31 30
AB12 63 16.2 336 3.7 30 +7 31 29
AB13 61 20.6 425 2.6 23 +6 25 20
AB15 61 15.5 513.1 1.5 40 +6 30 30
AB16 70 17.2 481 3.88 33 +3 12 25

Tensile properties have improved in some compound and weak-
ened in the others.

Changes in properties, affected by accelerated aging condition,
were in allowable range.
7. Dynamic shear properties
In order to measure dynamic shear properties of compounds i.e.
equivalent damping ratio and shear modulus, it was required to
proceed according to valid standard. ISO 22762 [33,34], with title
of Elastomeric seismic-protection isolators is a perfect and valid
standard for bridge and building isolators. Some sections of this
standard proceed to the properties of rubber material used to man-
ufacture the elastomeric seismic isolators. Section 5.8 of part 1 of
the standard is about dynamic shear test of rubber which selected
in this research.
7.1. Description of specimens
Four-block lap shear type specimens, according to the Sec-
tion 5.8.3 of ISO 22762-1 standard, were manufactured. As shown
in Fig. 7, this test piece consists of four rubber blocks bonded to
four plates of steel. The size of one rubber block is 4.5 mm thick,
30 mm wide, and 30 mm long for a square pillar. Fig. 8 shows
the actual picture of manufactured shear specimen, too.
7.2. Test conditions
Tests were performed at temperatures between 23 C and 25 C.
The frequency (Frq.) of test was set on 0.2 Hz and the maximum
shear strain (cmax) was selected 15%, 50% and 100%. It should be
explained that because of apparatus limitation, it was not possible
to test more than 100% strain. The apparatus was STM-20 universal
machine with servo-electrical drive system. The test setup is
shown in Fig. 9.
According to the standard, tests were carried out in order to
increasing strain and at least three specimens were tested. The
numbers of loading cycles were 3 cycles.
The required properties were computed from the third cycle as
follows:

Fig. 7. Four-block lap shear type specimen. Fig. 8. Manufactured shear specimen.
274 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278

Fig. 9. Dynamic shear test setup: (a) General over view and (b) Specimen close up view.

Q1  Q2
Kh The shear stiffness 1
X1  X2
600
2DW 500
heq The equivalent damping ratio 2
pK h X 1  X 2 2 400

300
K h tr
Geff The effective shear modulus 3
Ar 200
Force (N)

where: Q1 is the maximum shear force, Q2 is the minimum shear 100

force, X1 is the maximum extension, X2 is the minimum extension 0
of third cycle and DW is the area enclosed by the third hysteresis -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
-100
loop. tr and Ar are the one-layer rubber thickness and area, respec-
tively. An example of a typical hysteresis loop is shown in Fig. 10. -200

-300
7.3. Shear test results
-400
Extension (mm)
At least 3 specimens as explained above were manufactured for
each modified compounds and dynamic shear tests were accom- Fig. 11. Shear force versus extension (strain = 15%) cyclic curve of specimen no.1 of
AB2.
plished according to the standard. Sample results of cyclic shear
test for 15%, 50% and 100% strain of one of specimens are shown
in Figs. 11, 12 and 13, respectively. As illustrated in these figures,
shear stiffness decreased marginally in all tests from first cycle to 1000
800
600
400
200
Force (N)

0
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
-200
-400
-600
-800
-1000
Extension (mm)

Fig. 12. Shear force versus extension (strain = 50%) cyclic curve of specimen no.1 of
Fig. 10. Typical shear hysteresis loop [33]. AB2.
 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278 275

second one. Furthermore, the third loading cycle was nearly coin- 7.4. Interpretation of test results
cident with the second one.
The average of effective shear modulus and equivalent damping According to the Table 8 and Fig. 14, the maximum value of
ratio of the specimens are presented in Tables 8 and 9, respectively. shear modulus is for AB3 which contains the most part of CB
From Table 8 it is observed that the effective shear modulus is (70 phr), then AB12 which contains SBR, has stayed on the second
in range of 0.68 MPa0.94 MPa and Table 9 illustrates that the place. The third place is for AB13 with efficient vulcanizing system
equivalent damping ratio is in range of 2.58%5.69% for 100% shear and the next place is for AB2 with 55 phr of CB. AB16 which
strain. Dependency of both characteristics on shear strain is shown designed with combination of all modified compounds is the next
on graphs in Figs. 14 and 15. one and the last one is AB15 which contains VN3.
With regard to the Table 9 and Fig. 15, the maximum value of
2000 equivalent damping ratio is for AB16 and the arrangement of other
compounds have remained similar to shear modulus.
1500
The recent tables and figures show that with increase of maxi-
1000 mum shear strain, the shear modulus and the equivalent damping
ratio are being reduced in all compounds.
500
Force (N)

0 8. Dynamic mechanical analysis

-10 -5 0 5 10
-500 Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is a technique used to
study the dynamic properties of polymers. One advantage of
-1000
DMA is that we can obtain a dynamic characteristic of sample each
-1500 time a sine wave is applied, allowing us to sweep across a strain,
frequency or temperature range. In this method basically, a sinu-
-2000 soidal stress is applied to specimen and the strain in the material
Extension (mm) is measured, allowing one to determine the modulus and damping
Fig. 13. Shear force versus extension (strain = 100%) cyclic curve of specimen no.1
in various modes including bending, tension, compression, torsion
of AB2. and shear modes.
The modulus measured in DMA is not exactly the same as shear
Table 8
modulus, which is the slope of the classic stressstrain curve. In
Effective shear modulus of compounds in different strains levels. DMA, complex modulus (G), elastic modulus (G0 ), and loss modu-
lus (G00 ) are calculated from the material response to the sine wave.
cmax Geff (MPa)
These different moduli allow better characterization of the mate-
AB2 AB3 AB12 AB13 AB15 AB16 rial, because we can now examine the ability of the material to
15% 1.49 2.12 1.52 1.59 1.15 1.42 return or store energy, to its ability to lose energy, and the ratio
50% 0.91 1.16 1.00 0.94 0.80 0.88 of these effects (tand), which is called damping. Here, the connec-
100% 0.75 0.94 0.82 0.77 0.68 0.72
tion between parameters has been explained [35,36].
G00
tan d g 4
Table 9 G0
Equivalent damping ratio of compounds in different strain levels.
where d (loss angle) is phase angle between stress and strain and g
cmax heq (%) (loss factor) is introduced as a measure of intrinsic damping of vis-
AB2 AB3 AB12 AB13 AB15 AB16 coelastic materials such as polymers, which is defined in terms of
15% 7.31 11.59 9.61 9.23 7.31 12.15
energy concepts.
50% 4.88 8.15 6.20 6.13 4.80 8.53 1 ED
100% 2.73 5.03 4.90 3.62 2.58 5.69 g 5
2p E S

2.50

2.00

AB2
1.50
Ge (M Pa)

AB3
AB12
1.00
AB13
AB15
0.50 AB16

0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100
max (%)

Fig. 14. Dependency of effective shear modulus on shear strain (Frq. = 0.2 Hz).
276 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278

14.00

12.00

10.00

AB2
8.00
AB3
heq (%)

AB12
6.00
AB13
AB15
4.00
AB16

2.00

0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100
max (%)

Fig. 15. Dependency of equivalent damping ratio on shear strain (Frq. = 0.2 Hz).

ED
heq  ; 6
4pEs

thus:

tand  2heq 7
These two damping parameters are a function of strain, fre-
quency (strain rate) and temperature. It should be explained that,
the loss factor is the most general of measurement indexes which
can be applied in case of nonlinear systems; whereas damping
ratio is defined on the basis of the linear single degree of freedom
in viscous model.
Here, the Tritec 2000 apparatus of Triton Technology Company
was used for DMA in shear mode. The test setup is shown in
Fig. 16.
In this DMA setup, the double cylindrical specimens of each
compound were analyzed at the temperature between 23 C
Fig. 16. DMA apparatus and setup. and 27 C. The diameter of specimens was 6 mm and their height
was 10 mm. The frequency of test was 0.2 Hz (similar to previous
dynamic shear test) and strain sweep was performed up to 8%
where ED stands for energy dissipated per cycle and ES represent the due to the apparatus restrictions. Figs. 17 and 18 show the
stored energy. On the other hand, equivalent damping ratio is analyzer output including shear modulus and damping ratio,
approximated by following relationship: respectively.

3.00E+06
ELASTIC SHEAR MODULUS (Pa)

2.50E+06

2.00E+06 AB2
AB3
1.50E+06
AB12

1.00E+06 AB13
AB15
5.00E+05
AB16

0.00E+00
2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8%
STRAIN (%)

Fig. 17. Dynamic mechanical analyzer output for elastic shear modulus (Frq. = 0.2 Hz).
 S. Abedi Koupai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 267278
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
tan 0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
2% 3% 4%
STRAIN (%)
Fig. 18. Dynamic mechanical analyzer output for damping (Frq. = 0.2 Hz).
8.1. Interpretation of DMA results
According to dynamic mechanical analysis, the arrangement of
compounds for shear modulus is the same as dynamic shear test
results. The maximum value of shear modulus was obtained for
AB3 followed by AB12, AB13, AB2, AB16 and AB15.
According to Fig. 18, the maximum value of damping ratio was
obtained for AB16 followed by AB3, A13, AB12, AB2 and AB15. This
arrangement is similar to dynamic shear test results except for
AB12 and AB13 which are close to each other in the both graphs,
i.e. Figs. 18 and 15.
The recent graphs show that with the increase of shear strain,
the shear modulus is being reduced.
9. Conclusions
In the present study, the effects of compound components, on
dynamic and mechanical properties of elastomer, were investi-
gated, experimentally.
The results of experiments revealed the following conclusions
in terms of the improvement of the properties of elastomer com-
pound of SREIs.
Physical and mechanical properties:

The synergistic effect of increasing amount of CB, replacing SBR
and change of the vulcanizing system to efficient, causes the
highest rate of improvement on hardness and tensile modulus.

Silica (VN3) could not play the predicted positive role to
improve the properties, generally.

Larger amount of CB increased the hardness, tensile modulus
and compression set, while decreased the elongation.

With change of vulcanizing system into efficient, the compres-
sion set and the aging were improved.
Dynamic shear properties shear modulus:

The CB is the most effective component on shear modulus. As
the amount of CB increase, the shear modulus increase,
proportionally.

Replacement apart of NR with SBR plays a positive role on the
increase of the shear modulus.

Change of vulcanizing system into efficient shows the shear
modulus increment.

SBR plays more effective role than vulcanizing system.

Silica (VN3) could not play predicted positive role to improve
this property.
277
AB2
AB3
AB12
AB13
AB15
AB16
5% 6% 7% 8%
Dynamic shear properties damping ratio:

The synergistic effect of increasing amount of CB, replacing SBR
and change of the vulcanizing system into efficient, causes the
highest rate of improvement on damping ratio.

Larger amount of CB has increased the damping ratio.

Replacement of SBR and change of vulcanizing system into effi-
cient have the same effects on damping improvement,
approximately.

Silica (VN3) could not play predicted positive role to improve
this property.
With regard to the above mentioned conclusions, it is proposed
that the original isolators with all designed compounds are manu-
factured, in the future. The dynamic tests will be necessary to
investigate the extensibility of results on original isolators.
Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by the Civil Engineering
Department and the Research and Technology Deputy of Sharif
University of Technology. Also authors wish to thank Shayan Poly-
mer Engineering Company for manufacturing and testing facilities.
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