Rupture of rubber. II. The strain concentration at an incision

Abstract The strain distribution around the tip of an incision in a thin test‐piece of highly elastic material is considered. Using the results of a previous paper, relations between this strain distribution and the over‐all forces or strains are derived for two particular types of test‐piece. Experiments designed to check the theory are described, and agreement is found to be satisfactory. The theory is extended qualitatively to the case where the test‐piece is taken to the point of rupture, and experiments are described which confirm the approximate relation derived. The relevance to tearing and to the previously proposed tear criterion is discussed.