An Understanding of Mechanical Behaviour and Damage Mechanism in Elastomers using X-Ray Computed Tomography at Several Scales

Abstract

The study of microstructural network and damage mechanism of polymer and rubber, although deceptively simple, involves a complex interplay between material properties and service conditions. In fact, the occurrence of defects such as the initiation and the growth of cavitation in rubber specimens in working conditions is an important problem. This deals with the improvement of microstructure in order to obtain a higher service capacity. The scope of the present paper is, therefore, to evaluate principal mechanisms, in-situ observation of damage at mesoscopic, microscopic and macroscopic levels by using c-ray computed tomography (CT) installed in the ITMA research centre for confirming the behaviour of natural rubber (NR) and styrene butyl rubber (SBR) specimens used in automotive and aeronautical fields.