CRACK ANALYSIS OF UNFILLED NATURAL RUBBER USING INFRARED MICROSPECTROSCOPY

摘要

The characterization and analysis of the crack tip region of unfilled natural rubber is crucial in developing a fatigue resistant material. Therefore, the molecular structure and orientation of the material in the crack tip region has been compared to the bulk. Cracks formed by different methods were evaluated using both transmission and reflection techniques of infrared microspectroscopy. The material around the crack tip and crack edges shows much higher absorbances than the bulk material for stressed rubber. This is due to a higher concentration of material and residual orientation effects. For unstressed material the crack tip region exhibits identical characteristics to the bulk material. [References: 29]