Fatigue Characteristics of Rubber

Repeated oscillations eventually will cause rubber or synthetics to deteriorate and crack from “dynamic fatigue.” If maintained under constant stress just below its tensile strength, rubber will break from the high stress. This phenomenon is characterized as “static fatigue.” Both vibration and loading are involved in practical applications of rubber and synthetics, and the material fails generally from a combination of these two causes. The author presents data resulting from quantitative studies made on rubber and synthetic samples covering both types of failure. These are considered separately, and then practical conclusions are drawn from the combination of the two.