Effect of Carbon Black on Tearing of Natural Rubber Vulcanizates at Various Temperatures

Fracture in solids initiates from flaws or points of weakness, where local stresses exceed global stress. Here, a crack develops and grows.

Natural rubber (NR) vulcanizates are widely used in rubber goods, due to high resistance to tearing, excellent flexibility and high resilience. The dependence of the tensile strength of NR vulcanizates on temperature has been studied by A.G. Thomas and J. M. Whittle¹. They found a critical temperature at which strength dropped abruptly. This was attributed to the absence of bulk crystallization at high temperatures.

In the present research, the tearing behavior at various temperatures and crack fractography of NR vulcanizates containing a semi-reinforcing carbon black (N660) was investigated. The presentation highlights the relationship between tearing resistance and cracking phenomena.

Reference

[1]: A. G. Thomas and J. M. Whittle, "Tensile Rupture of Rubber", Rubber Chemistry and Technology, 43, 222 (1970).