An anisotropic large strain plasticity model for multifilament yarns.

Important industrial rubber components like tyres, driving belts and air springs are usually reinforced by twisted polymer cords. A cord itself is a twisted structure of several multifilament yarns. Each yarn is a twisted strand consisting of a large number of polymer filaments. In this work, an anisotropic large strain plasticity model is presented which captures the yarn's filament structure and frictional behaviour. The material model is implemented in Abaqus adopting its user subroutine UMAT and validated by a simulation of a cord's twisting process and the comparison with microscope images. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]