top of page
file_000000002d988243a7fd487a07cd2930.png

K-Load: Predict Component Life Under Real-World Combined Loading.

Your polymer is being attacked by multiple damage modes at once. Your tools were each built for one.

Fatigue in Abaqus. Hydrolysis in a spreadsheet. Thermal aging with Arrhenius. Radiation dose in a separate code. Then an engineer combines the results by hand and calls it a prediction. Every single-stressor tool you use today was built assuming all other damage modes are zero. They are not.

Single-stressor models underpredict real-world degradation by 30-60%. That gap is where your components fail early, your qualification margins are wrong, and your redesign cycles start.

K-Load is the multi-damage-mode durability module inside ElastoSure by Karax -- predictive software for polymer, rubber, and elastomer aging, degradation, shelf life, service life, fatigue, durability, and reliability. The output is the Damage Index™ -- a single number showing how much life your component has consumed, and how much remains.

Trusted by Industry, Government & Research Leaders

960px-Logo_of_the_United_States_Space_Force_edited.png
cnpc_logotyp_edited.png
id64HoddYL_1786351252661_edited_edited.jpg
Sandia_National_Laboratories_logo_edited.png
250px-Lincoln_Lab_icon_edited.png

What Is the Damage Index™?

What Is the Damage Index™?

The Damage Index™ is K-Load's unified output: a single value (0-100%) representing the cumulative damage consumed across all active damage modes simultaneously. It tells you how much of the component design life has been used, and how much remains - accounting for synergistic interaction between fatigue, temperature, humidity, oxidation, and radiation.

No other simulation tool outputs a unified multi-mode damage metric. Competitors give you one number per damage mode and leave the engineering judgment of combining them to the user. K-Load combines them in the physics model, where the interactions actually happen.

ChatGPT Image Aug 10, 2026, 04_16_45 PM_

37%

Life Remaining

ChatGPT Image Aug 10, 2026, 04_16_45 PM_
ChatGPT Image Aug 10, 2026, 04_16_45 PM_

Every Damage Mode. One Model. One Damage Index™.

K-Load combines multiple damage modes into one physics-based model, capturing how they interact to consume component life.

Mechanical Damage 

Fatigue • Viscoelasticity •  Vibration

Physics-based fatigue life prediction under cyclic loading, accounting for stress relaxation, creep, and amplitude-dependent material behavior. Ghaderi et al. 2022/2023 fatigue model validated.

Damage Index™ contribution:

fatigue fraction + S-N curve + hysteresis energy map

HT-HP Damage 

Thermal Oxidation  •  Inert Thermal  •  DLO (Diffusion Limited Oxidation)

High-temperature oxidation modeling, including DLO, where oxygen diffusion creates non-uniform oxidation through thick rubber cross sections. Validated by Ghaderi et al. 2026 (FEPM in HPHT).

Damage Index™ contribution:

oxidation fraction + DLO depth profile + stiffness vs. temperature map

Environmental Damage 

Hydrolysis  •  Moisture Absorption

Models water-driven chain scission in polyurethanes, nylons, and adhesives. Tracks moisture ingress and property change as a function of exposure time, temperature, and relative humidity.

Damage Index™ contribution:

hydrolysis fraction + moisture profile + property retention curve

Radiation Damage 

UV / Vacuum • Gamma • X-ray • Proton • Electron • Atomic Oxygen

Multi-radiation-type degradation models for space, nuclear, and sterilization environments. Synergistic interaction with thermal oxidation is captured. Validated: DOD Space Force.

Damage Index™ contribution:

radiation fraction + chain scission rate + dose-to-failure curve

Transient Damage 

Thermal Cycling  •  Moisture Cycling  •  Corrosive Media  •  Infiltration

Thermal cycling fatigue, freeze-thaw degradation, and chemical media attack. Cyclic transient damage is multiplicatively coupled with mechanical and environmental modes in the K-Load damage model.

Damage Index™ contribution:

transient fraction + cycle count to failure + corrosion depth profile

Accidental Damage 

Design Defects • Manufacturing Defects • Quality Issues • Black-Swan 

K-Load integrates with third-party AD tools (ANSYS, Abaqus, NDT systems) for accidental and manufacturing defect inputs, using defect states as initial conditions for damage propagation.

Integration input:

defect size, location, severity fed into K-Load initial damage state then Damage

K-Load in Action: Three Material Classes, Three Damage Scenarios

K-Load combines multiple damage modes into one physics-based model, capturing how they interact to consume component life.

CASE STUDY 1

Natural Rubber

Thermal Aging

Damage modes modeled: thermal oxidation (DLO) and mechanical fatigue (tensile cycling). K-Load predicts stiffness loss and elongation-at-break reduction over aging time, with validation against experimental tensile test data.

Tensile Test

CASE STUDY 2

NBR

HT Oil / Air Aging

Damage modes modeled: HT thermal oxidation, corrosive media (oil infiltration), and stress relaxation. K-Load predicts thermal and chemical damage contributions, validated against compression set and relaxation measurements.

Relaxation Test

CASE STUDY 3

Silicone & SBR

HT Compression

Damage modes modeled: HT inert thermal aging and viscoelastic compression set (CSR). K-Load predicts CSR curves versus temperature and time for both material classes, validated against experimental test data.

CSR Test (Relax.)

What K-Load Replaces. What You Get Instead.

What K-Load Simulates

Simultaneous multi-damage-mode simulation: fatigue + thermal + moisture + radiation + HT-HP in one physics model

DLO (Diffusion Limited Oxidation) for thick rubber cross-sections spatial oxidation gradient through the part

Viscoelastic and viscoplastic mechanical response under fatigue and vibration

Synergistic radiation + thermal oxidation degradation (combined stressor model, not additive)

Third-party AD integration: accepts defect state from Abaqus, NDT, or quality systems as initial condition

What You Eliminate

Manual aggregation of 5 separate tool outputs which misses damage mode interactions by design

Homogeneous Arrhenius model that assumes uniform aging (wrong for parts over 5mm thick)

Purely elastic FEA models that underestimate hysteresis heating and creep-driven failure

Separate radiation and thermal aging tests summed linearly -- which underpredicts combined degradation by 30-60%

Third-party AD integration: accepts defect state from Abaqus, NDT, or quality systems as initial condition

What You Get

Damage Index™: one unified metric combining all active damage modes with interaction terms

Accurate property gradient through cross-section no more over-testing thin samples and extrapolating

True fatigue life prediction including self-heating, stress relaxation, and amplitude dependence

Accurate combined stressor prediction: validated by DOD Space Force on space-grade elastomers

Full damage path from initial defect through in-service degradation to failure -- one coherent model

Multi-Damage-Mode Simulation, Proven Across Material Classes

Accuracy

95% 

CNPC HPHT validated

Tests

80,000+

Multi-mode lab data

Damage modes

6

In one unified model

Material classes

3

NR, NBR, Silicone/SBR

Peer-Reviewed Research Behind K-Load

The science powering K-Load is supported by peer-reviewed publications in polymer aging, fatigue, and damage mechanics.

Fatigue Behavior of Polymers

  • Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology (2022/2023)​

  • Supports: Mechanical fatigue prediction

Micromechanical Modeling of Aged Semicrystalline Polymers

  • International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics (2023)

  • Supports: Viscoelastic & viscoplastic damage modeling

Aging of FEPM in HPHT Hydrogen Sulfide Downhole Environments

  • Macromolecular Theory and Simulations 35(1), e00044.

  • Supports: Validates K-Load HT-HP damage module (thermal-oxidation + DLO) in extreme downhole environments..

Considering  low computational cost and short development cycle of our Physics-based AI-driven engines, they provide a powerful alternative for processing of existing data with significant cost advantage in analysis, design and optimization of the polymer materials.

Applications

Image by Vincent NICOLAS

Resins & Composites

Engine helps engineers select and maintain composite materials by predicting long-term polymer degradation. Supports epoxy, polyurethane, cyanate ester, and carbon-carbon composites while modeling pyrolysis, ablation, and irradiation for demanding environments.

Image by Hossein Nasr

Adhesives & Thermal Pastes

Accelerates formulation development by predicting material performance in harsh operating conditions. Optimizes products for extreme vibration, intense heat, extreme cold, ionizing radiation, and hot, humid environments.

Image by Mike Hindle

Elastomers

Helps optimize gaskets, seals, and O-rings for high-pressure, high-temperature, corrosive, and radiation environments. Evaluates long-term durability and corrosion resistance of fluorinated elastomers.

ChatGPT Image Jul 20, 2026, 10_48_51 AM.png

Works with Your Existing Engineering Stack

INTEGRATIONS

960px-MSC_Software_new_Logo.jpg

Compatible

960px-Python-logo-notext.svg.webp

Developer access

Abaqus_Logo.jpg

Compatible

ansys_logo_icon_247614.png

Built-in

Start your 30-day free trial.

No credit card. No commitment. Replace your next aging test with a digital twin.

bottom of page