Characterization of crack toughness behaviour of unfilled and filled elastomers

Elastomer materials are used in a wide application range and are subjected to different loading from which material failure results. Because this fail ure is caused by initiation and propagation of cracks, application of fract ure mechanics methods for material assessment is obvious. A short summary o f possibilities for crack resistance curve determination, including alterna tive methods, is given. Vulcanizates on the basis of SBR 1500 with differen t sulphur and carbon black contents were investigated. Several fracture mec hanics examination methods under fatigue, impact-like and quasi-static load ing conditions were applied for describing the crack initiation and crack p ropagation behaviour. A possibility for determination of crack resistance c urves for these materials was derived. Instrumented tensile-impact (ITIT) e xamination developed for elastomer testing is described. The results of the various tests are discussed as a function of sulphur and carbon black cont ents.