Waveform impact on thermo-mechanical fatigue crack growth of a non-crystallizing rubber: Experimental observation and numerical simulation

Compared with the sine waveform, the pulse waveform load is more in line with the real service condition of tire. It was investigated the effect of two pulse waveform loads on the thermo-mechanical fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) of filled styrene-butadiene rubber and explained the underlying mechanism. The fatigue test and infrared thermal imaging test revealed that the shorter the pulse excitation time, the higher the heat build-up and the faster the FCGR. The underlying mechanism was explained by an established thermo-mechanical coupling method, and it was pointed out that the faster FCGR under high-frequency loading condition resulted from higher hysteresis energy rather than higher strain energy. The Parallel Rheological Framework model could not explain this phenomenon well.