Burst testing of condoms. I. Basic features of the force-deformation curve of latex-rubber condoms.

Inflation of a rubber condom involves biaxial deformation of the material which can be modeled by the use of an appropriate strain-energy function. Force versus deformation data for uniaxial extension of strips of condoms were used to determine the parameters for Ogden's form of a strain-energy function. These parameters were then used to fit experimentally obtained burst test data to a stress-strain equation formulated for inflation of condoms in a burst test. Experimental data on inflation of condoms agree well with theoretical curves verifying the applicability of the biaxial stress-strain equation to the particular strain-energy function on which it is based.