The unique properties of rubber make it ideal for use in a wide variety of engineering applications such as tyres, engine mounts, shock absorbers, flexible joints and seals. Developing diverse elastomeric elements for various structures involves numerical simulations of their performance, which are based on reliable constitutive models of the material being simulated. Numerical modelling should be underpinned by a detailed experimental investigation into the thermomechanical behaviour of rubber components in operating conditions.

The 9th volume of Constitutive Models for Rubber, containing the papers presented at the the Ninth European Conference on Constitutive Models for Rubber (ECCMR 2015, Prague, Czech Republic, 1-4 September 2015), offers engineers, scientists and postgraduate students an overview of recent theoretical and experimental research on the behaviour, properties and modelling of rubber. The contributions have been grouped under to the following headings: Ageing, Friction & Abrasion, Adhesion, Swelling, Continuum Mechanical Models & Numerical Implementation, Hyperelasticity, Micromechanical Approaches, Fracture, Fatigue & Lifetime Prediction, Mullins Effect, Strain Induced Crystallization, Thermal Effects, Reinforcement & Vulcanization, Design & Applications, Magnetosensitive, Ionic & Electroactive Elastomers and Foams. The papers presented are, however, not limited to these topics but reflect the complexity of diverse and exciting problems in the modelling of the behaviour of rubber.