Factors that Affect the Fatigue Life of Rubber: A Literature Survey

Many factors are known to influence the mechanical fatigue life of rubber components. Four major categories of factors are reviewed here: the effects of mechanical loading history, environmental effects, effects of rubber formulation, and effects due to dissipative aspects of the constitutive response of rubber. For each category, primary factors are described, and existing literature is presented and reviewed. Rubber's fatigue behavior is extremely sensitive to both the maximum and minimum cyclic load limits. Other aspects of the mechanical load history are also discussed, including the effects of static loaded periods (“annealing”), load sequence, multiaxiality, frequency, and loading waveform. Environmental factors can affect both the short and long term fatigue behavior of rubber. The effects of temperature, oxygen, ozone, and static electrical charges are reviewed. A great range of behavior is available by proper manipulation of formulation and processing variables. Effects of elastomer type, filler type and volume fraction, antidegradants, curatives, and vulcanization are discussed. The role of dissipative constitutive behavior in the improvement of fatigue properties of rubber is also reviewed. Four distinct dissipative mechanisms are identified, and their effects on fatigue behavior are described.