Journal Papers Published by the Rubber Research Group

"Aspects of fracture in rubber components"

Author(s): J.J.C. Busfield, C.K.L. Davies and A.G. Thomas

Journal: Progress in Rubber and Plastics Technology, Vol. 12, No. 3, (1996) p.191.

A methodology to predict of failure of rubber components under repeated stressing is discussed. A fracture mechanics approach is adopted, which has been shown to work with simple plane stress geometries in the past. The use of finite element techniques allows us to solve fracture problems for more complex three dimensional geometries at large deformations. At large strains the material behaves in a very non-linear manner and this requires the use of suitable stored energy functions, to give a realistic approximation of the behaviour.