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Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (6): 987-993.doi: 10.1007/s40242-024-4001-0

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Understanding Fatigue Failure in Binary Rubber Blends: Role of Crack Initiation and Propagation

PAN Lijia1, WANG Yuge2,3, WEI Lai1, SUN Zhaoyan1,2,3   

  1. 1. Xinjiang Laboratory of Phase Transitions and Microstructures in Condensed Matters, College of Physical Science and Technology, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, P. R. China;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, P. R. China;
    3. University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China
  • Received:2024-01-03 Online:2024-12-01 Published:2024-10-26
  • Contact: SUN Zhaoyan,zysun@ciac.ac.cn;WEI Lai,weilai@ylnu.edu.cn E-mail:zysun@ciac.ac.cn;weilai@ylnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2022YFB3707303) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52293471).

Abstract: Under cyclic loading conditions, the breakdown of rubber products is mainly caused by the formation and spread of cracks. This study focuses on understanding how cracks initiate and grow during the fatigue failure of blended rubber. We prepared composite materials by blending bio-mimetic rubber (BMR) and butadiene rubber (BR) in different mass ratios and evaluated their resistance to crack initiation and propagation. Our results indicate a clear trend: as the BR content increases, crack initiation in blended rubber is inhibited, while crack propagation is enhanced. This shift leads to a change in the primary factor influencing fatigue fracture from crack initiation to crack propagation. Additionally, we observed that the fatigue life of the rubber blend initially increases and then decreases as the BMR content rises, indicating a critical threshold when the mass ratio of BMR to BR is comparable. By closely examining the materials using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and image analysis, we confirmed that before the threshold, crack initiation is the dominant factor in fatigue failure, while after the threshold, crack propagation takes over. This study provides valuable insights into the mechanisms behind fatigue failure in rubber blends, contributing to a better understanding of this important material behavior.

Key words: Blended rubber, Fatigue failure, Crack initiation, Crack propagation, Fracture microstructure