Internal Fracture in An Elastomer Containing a Rigid Inclusion.
Abstract
Rubber blocks were prepared with thin glass rods in their centers, firmly bonded to the surrounding rubber. A tensile stress applied to the ends of a block in the direction of the rod axis induced the sudden formation of voids in the rubber near the flat ends of the rod. Approximate values of the local stresses have been calculated by FEM, assuming linear elastic behavior. Voids were found to form when and where the local dilatant stress -P (negative hydrostatic pressure) exceeded the magnitude of Young's modulus E for the rubber. A precursor void in a highly-elastic solid would expande indefinitely under these circumstances,so that fracture seems to be the result of an elastic instability. The applied stress at which voids appeared was of the same order as E for short rods, or for a butt joint between a rod and a rubber cylinder of the same diameter, but it became extremely small when the rod was thin compared to the block in which it was embedded, and relatively long. Under these circumstances the local dilatant stress is calculated to be a large multiple of the applied tensile stresss. Keywords: Cavitation: Composites; Elastomers; Fracture; Inclusions; Reinforcement; Strength; Voids.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA179782
Entities
People
- Alan Neville Gent
- K. Cho
- P. S. Lam
Organizations
- University of Akron