Glossar

Stress Relaxation (Rheology)

RelaxationWhen a constant strain is applied to a rubber compound, the force necessary to maintain that strain is not constant but decreases with time; this behavior is known as stress relaxation. The process responsible for stress relaxation can be physical or chemical, and under normal conditions, both will occur at the same time. Relaxation is one of the simplest rheological tests to describe in theory, but one of the hardest to carry out under typical ideal conditions. 

The test is designed to measure the RelaxationWhen a constant strain is applied to a rubber compound, the force necessary to maintain that strain is not constant but decreases with time; this behavior is known as stress relaxation. The process responsible for stress relaxation can be physical or chemical, and under normal conditions, both will occur at the same time. relaxation of stress of a sample following an instantaneous change in strain (displacement). A purely viscous material would instantly relax, whereas an elastic material would show zero RelaxationWhen a constant strain is applied to a rubber compound, the force necessary to maintain that strain is not constant but decreases with time; this behavior is known as stress relaxation. The process responsible for stress relaxation can be physical or chemical, and under normal conditions, both will occur at the same time. relaxation over time requiring a constant continuous stress to hold the position with time. A more typical viscoelastic material would show a spectrum of RelaxationWhen a constant strain is applied to a rubber compound, the force necessary to maintain that strain is not constant but decreases with time; this behavior is known as stress relaxation. The process responsible for stress relaxation can be physical or chemical, and under normal conditions, both will occur at the same time. relaxation between these two extreme, depending on the rheological makeup of the material.

In practice an “instantaneous change in strain” is not possible, and for typically rapidly relaxing rheological samples care should be taken in interpreting the results. As such, viscoelastic properties are more commonly measured using oscillation type experiments (with rheology stress RelaxationWhen a constant strain is applied to a rubber compound, the force necessary to maintain that strain is not constant but decreases with time; this behavior is known as stress relaxation. The process responsible for stress relaxation can be physical or chemical, and under normal conditions, both will occur at the same time. relaxation measurements of academic interest to cross correlate techniques).