Strain Analysis of the de Mattia Test

¹ Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH, A-8700 Leoben Rosegger Str 12, Austria
² Institute of Polymer Product Engineering, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria

Abstract

The de Mattia test is a well-known, standardized and widely used method in the rubber industry for characterizing the fatigue behaviour of rubbers. Due to the visual observation and classification of the crack initiated, high data scatter were usually observed in these tests. To improve the quality of the de Mattia test and to support the applicability of the test method in modern design procedures, two novel experimental methods were proposed. Full-field strain analysis experiments using digital image correlation technique were performed and the local strains at the notch tip determined in the first. A global displacement vs. local strain calibration curves makes the design and conduction of strain based Wöhler curves possible. The crack initiation and crack growth is detected by an image analysis system and the crack growth rate was determined in the second method. To gain more insight into the fatigue behaviour of rubbers, these two novel methods were combined and can efficiently be used for characterizing the fatigue behaviour of rubbers.