Viscoelastic properties of a silica-filled styrene-butadiene rubber under uniaxial tension

A model composite — a silica-filled styrene-butadiene rubber with a various filler volume content — was tested for creep and creep recovery at different tensile load levels to evaluate the effect of viscoelasticity on the deformational properties of filled rubbers. A constitutive equation describing the diagram of equilibrium deformation of the composite in quasi-static loading was obtained from an analysis of creep test results. The equation was common for the filled rubber at different filler content. The existence of such a curve has been confirmed by experimental unloading diagrams registered in cyclic loading-unloading tests. It is shown that the phenomenological equations obtained from an analysis of creep recovery test results can be used successfully for describing the hysteresis loops of second and subsequent cycles for cyclic tests with a constant maximum stretch ratio.