Affiliation:
1. 1The Natural Rubber Producers' Research Association, Welwyn Garden City, England
Abstract
Abstract
Fatigue failure of rubber under repeated loading is reviewed. The process considered is that occurring in the absence of appreciable temperature rise as a result of the development of one or more cracks. A fracture mechanics approach, based on the elastic energy available for crack propagation, enables the crack growth and fatigue behavior to be interrelated quantitatively and is helpful from both basic and applied viewpoints. Initiation of mechanical crack growth is governed by a critical value of the available energy, which is of similar magnitude for various elastomers and can be related approximately to the primary bond strength and molecular structure. Once this value is exceeded, the characteristics of growth vary markedly for different elastomers and appear to be influenced primarily by the elastic hysteresis of the rubber at high strains. Although the mechanical deformations are the basic driving force, the crack growth and fatigue behavior can also be strongly affected by atmospheric oxygen and ozone and the mechanisms of action of these gases are described. Implications of the work from the testing and service viewpoints are considered. A major problem in applying the fracture mechanics approach is to determine the energy available for crack growth in a component of complex shape. Recently-developed methods of doing this are discussed and the quantitative application of the approach to predict service performance is illustrated.
Subject
Materials Chemistry,Polymers and Plastics
Cited by
62 articles.
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