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Improved resistance to crack growth of natural rubber by the inclusion of nanoclay
Author(s) -
Nie Yijing,
Qu Liangliang,
Huang Guangsu,
Wang Bingyin,
Weng Gengsheng,
Wu Jinrong
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.1826
Subject(s) - materials science , tearing , composite material , viscoelasticity , crystallization , natural rubber , montmorillonite , fracture mechanics , dissipation , strain energy release rate , exfoliation joint , graphene , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , nanotechnology
Abstract The effect of nanoclay on the fatigue crack growth behavior was investigated. Fatigue tests were carried out on edge notched specimens under cyclic tension loadings. A power–law dependency between crack growth rate and tearing energy was obtained. Natural rubber (NR) filled with 5 phr organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) possessed the lowest value of the exponent, b , and the smallest crack growth rate at a given tearing energy, denoting the strongest resistance to crack growth. Strain‐induced crystallization was probed by synchrotron WAXD experiments, showing earliest occurrence and strongest ability of crystallization in NR with 5 phr OMMT due to the better exfoliation and orientation of clay layers. The study on the viscoelastic property by dynamic mechanical analysis indicated that NR filled with 10 phr OMMT had the largest contribution to tearing energy attributed to the viscoelastic dissipation in the viscoelastic region in front of the crack tip. This revealed that the strain‐induced crystallization played a more important role in the crack growth resistance than the viscoelastic dissipation for clay filled rubber. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.