No unified stress-based criterion exists, in the literature, for predicting the rupture of hyperelastic materials subjected to mutiaxial loading paths. This paper aims to establish a generalized rupture criterion under plane stress loading for elastomers. First, the experimental set up, at breaking, including various loading modes, is briefly described and commented. It consists of uniaxial tests, biaxial tests and pure shear tests, performed on different rubbers. The used vulcanizate and thermoplastic rubber materials are a Natural Rubber (NR), a Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR), a Polyurethane (PU) and a Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). Then, we have investigated a new theoretical approach, based upon the principal stresses, to establish a failure criterion under quasi-static loadings. Thus, we have proposed a new analytical model expressed as a function of octahedral stresses. Quite good agreement is highlighted when comparing the ultimate stresses, at break, between the experimental data and the prediction of the proposed criteria using our rubber-like materials.
