Rubber abrasion at steady state

Blade abrasion devices have previously been used to investigate the abrasion resistance of different elastomers. Despite extensive investigation the exact mechanisms that are present during abrasion continue to be the subject of debate. This investigation examines the effect of the normal and frictional forces on the rate and direction of crack growth during the abrasion process. Comparison is drawn between the rates of material loss as measured experimentally on two different styrene butadiene rubber compounds under a range of test conditions. For each set of conditions the representative stored energy release rate is calculated using a finite element analysis technique on a model of a specific abrasion asperity contacting a sliding rigid abrader. It is therefore possible to plot a graph of the stored energy release rate versus crack growth rate for an abrasion process. This is compared with an independently measured cyclic fatigue crack growth rate versus stored energy release rate. The correlation between these two independent tests was excellent. From this work insight into the nature of abrasion is gained.