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1. Abstract

The purpose of this lab is to examine the deformation of a rubber band from an applied

load that causes a displacement of about 20 inches. The relationship between stress and strain of

elastic materials is also examined. Important quantities determined are strain, loading/unloading

stress, and the loss of energy due to deformation (the elastic hysteresis). The procedure involves

stretching the rubber band at one inch increments from about 4 to 20 inches. Through the

experiment, it was determined that the rubber band undergoes considerable deformation due to

the breaking of weak, intermolecular secondary bonds between the polymer chains inside of the

rubber band. The stiff covalent bonds within the polymer chains are also stretched at larger

displacements once they are untangled, but this effort proves futile since these bonds recover

once the band is unloaded. However, the secondary bonds do not reform to a large extent since

the rubber band does not return quite to its original length. It also found in this experiment that

rubber bands initially have a small amount of stress for considerable deformation (strain), but

this switches once the band is pulled with a great displacement. Through this experiment, it is

proven that rubber is not a perfectly elastic material contrary to popular belief and undergoes

some deformation.

2. Introduction

The objective of this experiment is to determine strain and loading/unloading stress of a

rubber band being stretched and released while also determining the elastic hysteresis (the

energy dissipated per unit volume during the deformation process) of the band. The purpose of

this experiment is to show how most real-world materials are not perfectly elastic and how strain

and stress are related in elastic materials. A rubber band is made up of rubber which is a
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polymer. In a rubber band at rest, there are many long polymer chains tangled up. The force from

the initial stretching of the band goes into uncoiling these chains. Further stretching of the band

exerts force on the stronger covalent bonds inside of the polymer chains (Askeland, D.R., The

Science and Design of Engineering Materials). This indicates a higher elastic modulus (a

measure of stiffness or the slope of the strain vs. stress diagram). Due to molecules being

untangled initially during the stretching of the band, the force the band exerts will be much less

when it returns back to its original position. This means that only the strain will be reproduced

on the return trip while the stress (from force) will be less. The difference between the loading

and unloading curves on the displacement-position graph should represent the work that was

done to untangle the polymers in the band during initial stretching. The equation for engineering

strain is:

= = (1)

where is the engineering strain at each stretch point, l is the length of the elastic band at each

stretch point, lo is the original (reference) length, and l is the displacement in length. On the

other hand, the equation for engineering stress is:

= (2)

where is the engineering stress, F is the applied axial force (divided between the two strands of

the band in this lab), and Ao is the original cross-sectional area of the loaded member.

In this lab, a rubber band is stretched to about 20 inches and released while recording the

force in one inch increments. This process must be done at a constant rate in order to not have

jumping results. The displacement of the band is recorded, and from this engineering strain and

stress are calculated. The experiment is performed as a group, but the analysis is individual.
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3. Procedures

The materials for this lab are a 3.5 inch long rubber band of size # 64 and dimensions

0.194 inch in width and 0.008 inch thick (both strands), a ruler, a 3 inch C-clamp, a 2 x 1 x 30

inches mounting board with a bolt one inch from the end, a sturdy bench to clamp onto, safety

goggles, work gloves (not used), a load scale for up to 50 pounds, and a caliper for

measurements under a quarter of an inch. For the procedure (performed as a group), the first

action taken was to clamp the mounting board on a work bench using a C-clamp near the bolt

end. Second, a yard stick was used to verify that the tick marks on the mounting board are at one

inch increments starting at the bolt center at zero. Third, the thickness and width of the band

were measured using the caliper. With this, the cross-sectional area was computed. Fourth, the

initial (reference) length of the elastic band was recorded and the remaining data of the

experiment was recorded into a data table with columns for current length, change in length,

engineering strain, loading force, unloading force, loading stress, and unloading stress. Fifth, the

elastic band was put over the bolt and through the hook of the load scale. Next, the band started

to be stretched from the four inch mark in one inch increments at a constant rate. The loading

forces were recorded and stretching continued until a deflection of 20 inches without unloading.

Then, the first unloading force was recorded as the last unloading force. Last, unloading force

data was recorded in one inch increments until the original length was restored. The main safety

precaution for this lab was for the group members to wear safety glasses in order to protect the

eyes in case an elastic band broke when overstretched or accidentally unloaded.

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4. Results

From this experiment, it was expected that the unloading curve would exert less force

than the loading curve which turned out to be true. The elastic modulus (measure of stiffness)

was also expected to be higher for additional stretching. This can be shown when taking the

slope of the strain vs. stress diagram at different points. For example, the elastic modulus for

some earlier points measured to be 1.12x10 3 psi while that for some latter points measured to be

7.59x103 psi. This shows a great change in slope and hence stiffness in the band. When

beginning the experiment, the initial computations/measurements were 0.194 inches for the

elastic band width, 0.008 in. for the thickness of both strands, 1.55x10-3 in.2 for the original

cross-sectional area of the band, and 3.50 in. for the original length. Using the trapezoidal

method for integration, it was found out that the area under the loading curve for the

displacement (m) vs. load (N) graph was 16.23 J while the area under the unloading curve was

8.43 J. The difference between these areas represents the work done to unwind the polymer

chains in the rubber band which came out to be 7.80 J. In the table on the next page, the data

collected for stretching the rubber band every inch for loading and unloading is shown including

the current length, the displacement from the original rubber band length, the engineering strain,

the loading force, the unloading force, the loading stress, and the unloading stress. The unloading

forces and stresses were considerably lower than the loading ones.
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l l "Loading" "Unloading" "Loading" "Unloading"

(in.) (in.) (in./in.) Force (lb.) Force (lb.) Stress (psi) Stress (psi)

3.50 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

4.00 0.50 0.14 1.50 0.0 966 0.0
5.00 1.50 0.43 2.00 1.25 1.29x103 805
6.00 2.50 0.71 2.50 1.50 1.61x103 966
7.00 3.50 1.00 2.75 2.00 1.77x103 1.29x103
8.00 4.50 1.29 3.00 2.25 1.93x103 1.45x103
9.00 5.50 1.57 3.25 2.40 2.09x103 1.55x103
10.00 6.50 1.86 3.50 2.50 2.26x103 1.61x103
11.00 7.50 2.14 3.75 2.50 2.42x103 1.61x103
12.00 8.50 2.43 4.25 2.50 2.74x103 1.61x103
13.00 9.50 2.71 4.75 2.50 3.06x103 1.61x103
14.00 10.50 3.00 5.25 2.60 3.38x103 1.68x103
15.00 11.50 3.29 5.75 2.75 3.70x103 1.77x103
16.00 12.50 3.57 6.50 2.90 4.19x103 1.87x103
17.00 13.50 3.86 7.00 3.00 4.51x103 1.93x103
18.00 14.50 4.14 8.50 3.25 5.48x103 2.09x103
19.00 15.50 4.43 10.00 3.50 6.44x103 2.26x103
20.00 16.50 4.71 12.00 4.00 7.73x103 2.58x103
21.00 17.50 5.00 12.50 4.50 8.05x103 2.90x103
22.00 18.50 5.29 16.50 6.50 1.06x104 4.19x103
23.00 19.50 5.57 17.50 11.50 1.13x104 7.41x103
24.00 20.50 5.86 21.00 21.00 1.35x104 1.35x104
Table 1. Data collected from the elastic band experiment include (left to right by column) the

current length, the displacement from the original position, the engineering strain, the loading

force, the unloading force, the loading stress, and the unloading stress.
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In the figure below, displacement vs. the load of the rubber band for every one inch

increment is plotted. The load on the unloading curve (red) was substantially than that for

loading (blue), indicating that some of the elasticity of the band was lost in the work done to

uncoil the polymers.

Loading For Change in Displacement

(standard)
25

20

15
Load (lb.)

10 Loading

5 Unloading

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
-5
Displacement (in.)

Figure 1. Plot of the displacement of the rubber band vs. its load. Notice the significant

reduction in force for unloading.

In the figure below, strain vs. stress in the rubber band is plotted. As before, less force

and hence stress is experienced in the unloading curve. In general, the slope increases for

additional stretching of the band, representing the stiffness or elastic modulus.

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Elastic Band Strain vs. Stress

16000
14000
12000
10000
Stress (psi)

8000
Loading
6000
Unloading
4000
2000
0
-2000 0 2 4 6 8
Strain (in./in.)

Figure 2. Plot of strain vs. stress experienced by the rubber band. Notice the significant

reduction in stress for the unloading curve.

5. Discussion

When beginning the stretching of the rubber band, the rubber polymer chains are initially

uncoiling, causing great strain for relatively little stress. Most of the force applied goes solely

into this. However, additional stretching of the rubber band leads to the opposite condition, or a

lot of stress for very little strain because eventually the polymer chains become untangled and

only the covalent bonds within the polymer chains are stretched. The covalent bonds are very

strongly held together in comparison, causing a lot of stress for very little deformation.

According to the strain vs. stress graph (Figure 2), the uncoiling part of the loading curve has a

low (1.12x103 psi) modulus of elasticity (a measure of stiffness which is the slope of the curve)

while the stretching of the polymer carbon chain has a higher (7.59x103 psi) one. This changing

slope represents the increased difficulty to stretch the band after the molecules have been

untangled (Askeland, D.R., The Science and Design of Engineering Materials). It can also be
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shown that elastic bands are not perfectly elastic since the unloading curve of the strain vs. stress

graph has stress values decrease dramatically fast in comparison to the strain. This is because the

polymers are untangled and will not resist as much for lower strain values. In other words, the

band will not exert much of a force until higher strain values, so it has deformed. The band has

been stretched, so its original position cannot be recovered.

Although covalent bonds hold the atoms in the rubber polymer strands together, weak

intermolecular secondary bonds are what keeps the polymer molecules tangled up before the

experiment. When the band has been stretched, the secondary bonds do not largely form again

when it is unloaded because these forces were already weak and the band has undergone

deformation. This is similar to pulling a tangled rope. The rope will straighten out and the

covalent bonds will then be stretched (Schoolphysics.co.uk, Web). Once the person lets go, the

covalent bonds will recover, but the rope will not become tangled again. As shown in Table 1,

there is a strain value that has 0 stress for unloading but nonzero stress for loading. This means

the band has deformed and will not return quite to its initial position.

When looking at the displacement vs. load graph (Figure 1), the area under the two

curves represent energy which is significantly less for the unloading curve. This means that work

was done and energy was lost. The areas under the curves were found out (using a different

metric figure) to be 16.23 J for loading and 8.43 J for unloading. The difference (the elastic

hysteresis), which represents work done and energy lost, came out to be 7.80 J. This work was

done on the secondary bonds that kept the rubber band polymer chains tangled up initially. Once

these chains were untangled, they could not be restored. On the other hand, the covalent bonds

were restored because these were stronger.

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Few errors probably occurred in this experiment. One possible error was measuring the

thickness of the rubber band because this measurement is very tiny. An error in this would make

the cross-sectional area and stress calculations slightly off, but that is relatively unimportant here

because only trends are being examined.

From this experiment, the findings suggest that rubber is not a perfectly elastic material

contrary to popular belief.

6. Conclusion

In this lab, a rubber band was stretched and released in one inch increments while

measuring the force and displacement. These values were later used to determine the engineering

stress and strain for the points as well as the change in energy and the elastic modulus. It was

concluded that the rubber band has undergone considerable deformation from the initial load

applied onto the rubber band that untangled the rubber polymer chains. The energy lost with this

deformation is the elastic hysteresis which was found out to be 7.80 J. The experiment also

showed that the band was at rest for a larger deformation value. In general, there is more stress

and less deformation when stretching a rubber band.

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7. Appendices

Loading for Change in Displacement

(Metric)
100

80

60
Load (N)

40 Loading

20 Unloading

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
-20
Displacement (m)

Figure 3. Plot of the displacement of the rubber band vs. its load in metric units. Notice the

significant reduction in force for unloading.