PAPER CANCELLED: Progress in Crack Propagation Mechanism and Durability Improvement

Crack growth resistance of rubber compounds is of vital importance for tire applications such as the safety of vehicles and the life-time of tires, as well as many non-tire applications such as conveying belts. Our recent work on real-time monitoring of cracking tip has revealed new insight into the crack propagation mechanism of natural rubber and synthetic rubbers, and provides new strategies to improve the durability of rubber articles.

For example, by examining the “dynamic morphology” of cracking tip from the front, we were able to correlate to the reinforcing factors such as strain-induced crystallization, reduced domain size, reinforcing and non-reinforcing fillers, and micro- or macro-dispersions of fillers in the rubber matrix.