Multiaxial fatigue life prediction for a natural rubber

Nicolas Saintier (1) , Georges Cailletaud (2) , Roland Piques (2)

1 LAMEFIP - Laboratoire Matériaux Endommagement Fiabilité et Ingénierie des Procédés
2 CDM - Centre des Matériaux

This study deals with the fatigue crack initiation under multiaxial non-proportional loadings in a natural rubber. Push–pull, torsion and tension-compression with a superimposed static torsion fatigue test results are presented. A short presentation of some important features concerning short fatigue crack growth is given. Two fatigue crack criteria are proposed, the first one based on the first and second invariant of the Cauchy stress tensor, the second, based on the micromechanisms of crack initiation, consist of a critical plane approach under large strain conditions using a micro to macro approach. The second criterion was found to give the best results, by predicting the fatigue lifes, crack orientations and location, even in cases with internal crack initiation.

Mots clés: Multiaxial fatigue; Natural rubber; Crack initiation; Fatigue life prediction; Critical plane approach; Large strain

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Nicolas Saintier, Georges Cailletaud, Roland Piques. Multiaxial fatigue life prediction for a natural rubber. International Journal of Fatigue, 2006, 28 (5-6), pp.530-539. ⟨10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2005.05.011⟩. ⟨hal-00145066⟩