Effect of crosslink type on the fracture of natural rubber vulcanizates

✍ Scribed by Lynn C. Yanyo

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 492 KB
• Volume: 39
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-2673
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00047443

✦ Synopsis

The effect of the chemical nature of the crosslinks on the fatigue crack growth behavior of filled natural rubber has been investigated. By varying the ratio of sulfur to accelerator, the relative amounts of polysulfidic to monosulfidic crosslinks was controlled. Carbon-carbon crosslinking was introduced via peroxide cure. All elastomers tested were prepared at the same number average crosslink density as confirmed by equilibrium swelling and modulus measurements. At the same crosslink density, polysulfidic crosslinks were most resistant to fatigue over the range of tearing energies investigated. Vulcanizates with primarily monosulfidic crosslinks exhibited lower cut growth rates than peroxide cured specimens, although the monosulfidic network strength may have been enhanced by the presence of some polysulfidic crosslinks.