Mechanical behaviors of non-orthogonal fabric rubber seal

In this paper, the mechanical behaviors of non-orthogonal reticulated fabric reinforced rubber composite and its complex fabric rubber seal are investigated. First, a non-orthogonal constitutive model is developed to characterize the mechanical behaviors of reticulated fabric rubber composites, which considers the energy contributions of matrix, fiber and fiber–matrix interaction. Second, the constitutive constants of rubber, reticulated fabric rubber and the homogenization anisotropic constitutive parameters of surface fabric rubber are obtained by experiments and representative volume element, respectively. Finally, the macroscopic behaviors of complex fabric rubber seal are studied by experiment and numerical simulation, which demonstrates the suitability of the proposed macro-mesoscopic characterization approach. Additionally, the effects of material orientation on complex fabric rubber seal and those of interaction term on constitutive model are discussed. This work will provide a critical step for designing and evaluating the complex fabric rubber seal.