Influence of Elastomers Formulation on Fatigue Crack Growth Properties

Elastomers exhibit complex fracture mechanical properties. The crack growth rate depends on various factors such as polymer type, fillers, curing state. For numerous applications elastomeric parts often work under complex periodic loadings. The new Fatigue Test Analysers of Metravib ACOEM allows performing fatigue crack growth tests at controlled tearing energy in pure shear samples. This method of loading is strongly recommended to compare dynamic fatigue properties of elastomers.This study deals with crack growth rate measurements and performance comparison of several rubber compounds. The influence of the formulation and mixing parameters of formulation and mixing would be presented on an SBR compound: the dispersion of filler, the antioxidant quantity, and the curing system. All compounds are characterized with normalized mechanical tests such as uniaxial tensile, monotonic tearing, hardness; one is also tested with normalized fatigue tests as FTFT (Fatigue To Failure Tensile), DeMattia Flexing Fatigue Tester (in initiation and propagation).