Characteristic Tearing Energy and Fatigue Crack Propagation of Filled Natural Rubber

Below the incipient characteristic tearing energy (T0), cracks will not grow in rubber under fatigue loading. Hence, determination of the characteristic tearing energy T0 is very important in the rubber industry. A rubber cutting experiment was conducted to determine the T0, using the cutting method proposed originally by Lake and Yeoh. Then, a fatigue crack propagation experiment on a edge-notched pure shear specimen under variable amplitude loading was studied. A method to obtain the crack propagation rate da/dN from the relationship of the crack propagation length (Δa) with the number of cycles (N) is proposed. Finally, the T0 obtained from the cutting method is compared with the value decided by the fatigue crack propagation experiment. The values of T0 obtained from the two different methods are a little different.

An experimental method for estimating the tearing energy in rubber-like materials using the true stored energy

A method for determining the critical tearing energy in rubber-like materials is proposed. In this method, the energy required for crack propagation in a rubber-like material is determined by the change of recovered elastic energy which is obtained by deducting the dissipated energy due to different inelastic processes from the total strain energy applied to the system. Hence, the classical method proposed by Rivlin and Thomas using the pure shear tear test is modified using the actual stored elastic energy. The total dissipated energy is evaluated using cyclic pure shear and simple shear dynamic experiments at the critical stretch level. To accurately estimate the total dissipated energy, the unloading rate is determined from the time the crack takes to grow an increment. A carbon-black-filled natural rubber is examined in this study. In cyclic pure shear experiment, the specimens were cyclically loaded under quasi-static loading rate of $$0.01~{\rm {s}}^{-1}$$ 0.01 s - 1 and for different unloading rates, i.e. $$0.01$$ 0.01 , $$0.1$$ 0.1 and $$1.0~{\rm {s}}^{-1}$$ 1.0 s - 1 . The simple shear dynamic experiment is used to obtain the total dissipated energy at higher frequencies, i.e. $$0.5$$ 0.5 -$$18~{\rm {Hz}}$$ 18 Hz which corresponds to unloading rates $$0.46$$ 0.46 -$$16.41~{\rm {s}}^{-1}$$ 16.41 s - 1 , using the similarities between simple and pure shear deformation. The relationship between dissipated energy and unloading stretch rate is found to follow a power-law such that cyclic pure shear and simple shear dynamic experiments yield similar result. At lower unloading rates (i.e. $${\dot{\lambda }}_{\rm {U}} < 1.0~{\rm {s}}^{-1}$$ λ ˙ U < 1.0 s - 1 ), Mullins effect dominates and the viscous dissipation is minor, whereas at higher unloading rates, viscous dissipation becomes significant. At the crack propagation unloading rate $$125.2~{\rm {s}}^{-1}$$ 125.2 s - 1 , the viscous dissipation is significant such that the amount of dissipated energy increases approximately by $$125.4\%$$ 125.4 % from the lowest unloading rate. The critical tearing energy is obtained to be $$7.04~{\rm {kJ}}/{\rm {m}}^{2}$$ 7.04 kJ / m 2 using classical method and $$5.12~{\rm {kJ}}/{\rm {m}}^{2}$$ 5.12 kJ / m 2 using the proposed method. Hence, the classical method overestimates the critical tearing energy by approximately $$37.5\%$$ 37.5 % .

Fatigue Crack Growth of Natural Rubber/Butadiene Rubber Blend Containing Waste Tyre Rubber Powders

Fatigue crack growth in NR/BR compound and the effect of two different types of recycled rubber powder (RRP) i.e. micronized cryo-ground 74 μm and ambient-ground 400 μm were studied using fracture mechanics approach. Absolute and relative hysteresis losses using single-edge notch tensile (SENT) specimens were determined with a displacement-controlled strain compensating for permanent set of the samples throughout the Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) experiments. Results indicated a correlation between absolute/relative hysteresis loss and fatigue crack growth rate under specific dynamic strain amplitudes. Differences in relative hysteresis loss showed that additional energy dissipation, due to multiple new crack surfaces at the crack tip, contributes to the FCG of the RRP compounds. At higher tearing energy, beside other factors affecting the FCG performance of the RRP compounds, both higher absolute and relative hysteresis loss are slightly detrimental to the crack growth rates.

An Experimental Method for Estimating the Tearing Energy in Rubber-like Materials Using the True Stored Energy

A method for determining the critical tearing energy in rubber-like materials is proposed. In this method, the energy required for crack propagation in a rubber-like material is determined by the change of the recovered elastic energy. Hence, the dissipated energy due to different inelastic processes is deducted from the total strain energy applied to the system. Therefore, the classical method proposed by Rivlin and Thomas using the pure shear tear test is modified using the actual stored elastic energy. The elastically stored energy in a pure shear is determined experimentally using cyclic loading under quasi-static loading rate of 0.01 s-1 for different unloading rates, i.e. 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0 s-1. The experimental results show that the classical method overestimates the critical tearing energy by approximately 18% and the unloading rate is minimal which suggests that the dissipation depends only on the loading path.

Configuration of Novel Experimental Fractographic Reverse Engineering Approach Based on Relationship between Spectroscopy of Ruptured Surface and Fracture Behaviour of Rubber Sample

A novel fractographic approach based on a combination of (i) mechanical behavior of cured rubber in uniaxial tensile loading and (ii) spectroscopy of fracture on a ruptured surface was experimentally validated. This approach related the migration of paraffin oil from a matrix to the ruptured rubber surface, to the tearing energy related to the deformation speed responsible for total rubber sample rupture, and the approach itself was configured experimentally. It was evaluated on cured natural rubber (NR) for two different paraffin oil concentrations. Single edge notched tensile (SENT) samples were subjected to uniaxial tensile loadings at two different deformation speeds. First, the tearing energy as a function of deformation speed was determined for each defined oil concentration. Secondly, at specific locations on the ruptured surfaces, infrared (IR) spectroscopy was performed to quantify a characteristic absorbance peak height of migrated paraffin oil during the rupture process. The results of the IR analyses were related to the deformation speed to understand the relation between the amount of migrated paraffin oil during the fracture process and the deformation speed which brought about such a fracture. This novel approach enhanced the reverse engineering process of rubber fracture related to the cause of tearing energies during critical failure.

FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH AND FATIGUE FRACTURE MORPHOLOGY OF RECYCLED RUBBER POWDER–FILLED NR/BR BLEND COMPOUND

ABSTRACT The effect of two different types and particle sizes (micronized cryo-ground 74 μm or ambient-ground 400 μm) of recycled rubber powder (RRP) was studied during fatigue crack growth (FCG) in an NR/BR compound using a fracture mechanics approach. Absolute and relative hysteresis losses using single-edge notch tensile specimens were determined with a displacement-controlled strain compensating for the permanent set of the samples throughout the FCG experiments. Differences in relative hysteresis loss showed that additional energy dissipation, due to multiple new crack surfaces at the crack tip, contributes to the FCG of the RRP compounds. At higher tearing energy, beside other factors affecting the FCG performance of the RRP compounds, both higher absolute and relative hysteresis loss are slightly detrimental to the crack growth rates. At lower tearing energy, the larger RRP-filled compound showed slower, but not significant, different crack growth rates than the NR/BR control compound. Fracture morphologies for NR/BR and RRP-filled compound were associated with different fracture surface topographies at various tearing energies, which revealed the dependency of the crack growth microstructure on the tearing energies.