Assessment of Crack Initiation in Tire Synthetic Rubber by Residual Strength Method

Classically, fatigue analysis such as Miner’s Rule is a representation of the “Residual Strength” method; however it is typically applied to relatively brittle materials using the methods of elasticity. We propose a fatigue-based “Residual Strength” method for synthetic rubber materials used in tire production. We model progressive but very slow cumulative damage by using constant strain rate behavior of the neat material, and material subjected to fatigue loading and by assessing the differences in failure stress and strain values as well as resilience and toughness values. Results are planned to be reflected to S-N curves. Our method will serve as an accurate predictive durability tool for tires build using different materials, fillers, reinforcements and different manufacturing methods.