Cut Growth in Vulcanizates of Natural Rubber, cis-Polybutadiene, and a 50/50 Blend: Part II. Cracking Patterns in the Strained State

The tensile strengths, σb , and apparent fracture energies, G, of edge-cut strip specimens (28 mm wide) of carbon black-filled vulcanizates of natural rubber (NR), cis-butadiene rubber (cis-BR), and a 50/50 blend have been determined. The BR vulcanizate exhibited a rather steady decrease in σb with increasing cut size, c, and fractured by simple growth of the original cut tip. NR and the NR/BR blend exhibited much higher strengths as well as a drop in σb at a critical cut size, ccr≈2.2 mm. High strengths are attributed, at least in part, to substantial longitudinal cracking prior to catastrophic fracture, especially when c cr . When strengths of edge-cut specimens were normalized by the regular (uncut) tensile strength, similar values were found for all three vulcanizates, when c>ccr . Below ccr , normalized strengths of the NR and NR/BR were comparable and exceeded those of BR. For all three vulcanizates, calculated fracture energies depended on cut size. Photographs of a deformed NR/BR specimen, which had developed the auxiliary cracking, revealed that longitudinal crack tips appear as "corners" propagating along the loading direction. As a longitudinal crack progresses, strain energy is released by the retraction of (sheared) material into the unstressed zone at the extremity of crack opening.