Research Progress on Fatigue Life of Rubber Materials

Abstract

Rubber products will be fatigued when subjected to alternating loads, and working in harsh environments will worsen the fatigue performance, which will directly affect the service life of such products. Environmental factors have a great influence on rubber materials, including temperature, humidity, ozone, etc., all of which will affect rubber’s properties and among which temperature is the most important. Different rubber materials have different sensitivity to the environment, and at the same time, their own structures are different, and their bonding degree with fillers is also different, so their fatigue lives are also different. Therefore, there are generally two methods to study the fatigue life of rubber materials, namely the crack initiation method and the crack propagation method. In this paper, the research status of rubber fatigue is summarized from three aspects: research methods of rubber fatigue, factors affecting fatigue life and crack section. The effects of mechanical conditions, rubber composition and environmental factors on rubber fatigue are expounded in detail. The section of rubber fatigue cracking is expounded from macroscopic and microscopic perspectives, and a future development direction is given in order to provide reference for the research and analysis of rubber fatigue and rubber service life maximization.

Metamaterial-based passive analog processor for wireless vibration sensing

“…The cycle life of the membrane depends on the membrane material properties as well as environmental factors and mechanical conditions 35 . The membrane used in our device is the super-stretchable abrasion-resistant natural rubber film from McMaster-Carr (Super-Stretchable Abrasion-Resistant Natural Rubber, 8611K1159) with a tensile strength of 27.58 MPa and an ultimate elongation of 750%.…”

Characterization of Rubber Degradation in a Brake Wheel Cylinder under Cyclic Loading

“…The characterization route of rubber in this research is depicted in Figure 2. The ASTM and ISO standards requires the fatigue test configuration to follow dumbbell-shaped specimens [2] but in this investigation, the modification on the rubber geometry was deemed impossible. Therefore, a special jig was designed to mount and hold the brake wheel cylinder during the compression cyclic loading and uniaxial compression test as shown in Figure 3a.…”

“…It is believed that the alternating and long-term compression stress causes the breakage of chemical bonds, leading to the molecular break and ultimately, forming a crack. From the secondary perspective, the shear stress destroys secondary bonds, causing relative slippage of molecular chains and cracks [2].…”

“…From a materials engineering perspective, rubber has both hyperelasticity and viscoelasticity characteristics. The former results from the conformational entropy change of rubber macromolecular chains while the latter is caused by the internal friction of the materials [2].…”

Prediction of rubber fatigue life using an assimilation-based learning approach and incremental crack propagation model

“…They are utilized in the manufacturing of various products including tires [2], conveyor belts [3], isolators [4] and more. In these application contexts, rubber structural components commonly endure cyclic loads, resulting in fatigue failure as a primary form of material deterioration in rubber [5]. The fatigue performance of rubber materials significantly affects the service life of structural components.…”