Review on the Role of Phase Morphology and Energy Dissipation Around the Crack Tip During Fatigue Crack Propagation of Filler-Reinforced Elastomer Blends

Abstract

The paper reviews recent investigations of fatigue crack propagation in filler-reinforced elastomer blends based on recipes referring to truck tire tread compounds. One focus lies on viscoelastic energy dissipation effects that explain the well-known power law behavior of the crack growth rate vs. tearing energy. It is demonstrated that the crack growth rate fulfills the time-temperature superposition principle by constructing master curves with shifting factors from viscoelastic data. In addition, energy dissipation mechanisms due to stress softening in vicinity of the crack tip are evaluated under quasi-static conditions by calculating the J-integral, which decreases significantly while approaching the crack tip. Therefore, we use combined experimental and theoretical techniques consisting of digital image correlation measurements of the strain field around the crack and calculations of the corresponding energy densities and stress fields based on a physically motivated stress-softening model of filled rubbers. A second focus lies on the role of phase morphology of carbon black (CB) filled NR/BR and NR/SBR blends in fatigue crack propagation. Therefore, the filler distribution is evaluated by an established technique referring to the variation of viscoelastic loss peaks in the glass transition regime. It is found that in NR/BR blends, almost all CB is located in the NR phase, while in NR/SBR blends, the majority of CB is located in the SBR phase. The effect of batching on the phase morphology is also considered, by mixing the NR first with CB and then blending with the second rubber phase. This leads to a more homogeneous distribution of CB in NR/SBR blends. Finally, the obtained fatigue crack growth rates of these blend systems, measured under pulsed harmonic excitations in analogy to rolling tires, are discussed on the basis of the evaluated phase morphology and filler distribution. Here, also the influence of the polymer-filler interphase on the filler distribution is considered.