Fatigue characterization of tire rubber

An investigation of the fatigue behavior of tire rubber was undertaken. The tire rubber used in this work is a blend of natural rubber and polybutadiene. It is vulcanized and filled with carbon black. Fatigue tests were conducted on edge-notched prismatic specimens subjected to tension–tension loading in a displacement-controlled machine. The maximum strain was 8% and the minimum strain was 0.8%. The waveform of the fatigue cycle was sinusoidal at a frequency of 10 Hz. Initial cracks of various lengths were cut into the edge of the rubber specimens with a sharp razor blade. The tearing energy was calculated during the test. A power law relation between the crack growth rate and tearing energy was obtained. The fatigue life of tire rubber was estimated based on the integration of the power law relations and the tearing energy versus fatigue cycles curves in conjunction with the value of the critical tearing energy at crack growth initiation.