Homogenisation techniques for the analysis of oxygen diffusion and reaction in fiber-reinforced elastomers

In order to assess the aging behavior of elastomeric components, not only mechanical and thermal loads, but also chemical influences like oxidation have to be taken into account. Due to the large computational costs of a discrete modelling of fiber composites, the material properties of fibers and matrix usually have to be averaged. However, homogenisation theories developed for the description of the mechanical behavior of composites are not directly applicable to the computation of the oxygen diffusion and reaction processes since the mass balance of the diffusing oxygen is not fulfilled because of oxidation. The quality of the set of homogenised material parameters varies depending on the specific materials and on whether diffusion parallel or perpendicular to the fiber direction is examined.