Abstract
By the resistance to tearing of a material is meant the resistance shown by the material, while under tension, to tearing completely apart after a split has been made in the surface by any means whatsoever. Without question, the destruction of rubber articles can in many cases be traced to tearing. The initial tears can be regarded as the result of a splitting of the inelastic oxidized skin or of injury to the surface. Tears on the side walls of a tire, for example, can be attributed to the first cause; the wear on the tread is attributable to the second cause mentioned above. Resistance to tearing should therefore be regarded as one of the most important properties of rubber. The numerous and widely different methods which have been proposed and used for determining resistance to tearing are proof of this. A complete survey of the literature to 1932 was published by Lefcaditis and Cotton. These authors described about twelve different methods for determining resistance to tearing, proposed a modified form of the method of Heidensohn, and determined the tear-resistance of various mixtures by this method. Subsequently, Lefcaditis studied this method further, and determined the effect of fillers and of mastication on resistance to tearing.
