Mahmoud Assaad

Mahmoud Assaad is a senior technical advisor at Endurica in Findlay, Ohio, USA. He received his MSc in structural engineering from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, following it with a PhD from the same university with engineering mechanics as a major and applied mathematics as a minor. Assad started his industrial career with Goodyear as a senior research engineer in 1983. He gained his second MSc – in polymer science – from the University of Akron, Ohio in 1990. Assad is a senior R&D associate/retired in the global numerical methods, global simulation technology department at the Goodyear Technical Center, Akron, Ohio, USA.

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Presentation

Coupled multiphysics strategy to monitor the health of rubbery structures

When exposed to air, the long polymer chains of a rubbery object react with the oxygen molecules to form oxygenated functional groups which weaken the material and make it more susceptible to cracking. Higher temperature accelerates the diffusion of oxygen and the mechanisms of the ensuing chemical reactions. The property degradation of the oxidative rubber is manifested by embrittlement of its stiffness, reduction of its maximum chain extensibility and accelerated crack initiation and propagation. In this paper, a process is developed to measure the oxygen permeability, solubility and oxygen consumption rate to map the state of oxygen concentration.