Experimental and numerical study of damage initiation mechanism in elastomeric composites

Purpose: Experimental and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the damage initiation mechanisms in elastomeric composites were carried out under static loading at room temperature. Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) specimens from natural rubber (NR) vulcanised and reinforced with other materials such as carbon black, silica, fibres and textiles or metals (rubber composites). Design/methodology/approach: Very huge experimental results were compared with that of the Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Damage mechanism has been described with a threshold criterion to identify damage. The damage was evaluated just at the beginning of the tearing by assuming large strain. A typical type of specimen geometry of Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) specimens was considered under static tensile tests conducted on the notched specimens with variable depths. Findings: In this stage of this research, a finite element analysis (FEA) has been applied under the same conditions of this part in order to obtain the agreement between experimental and FEA results. The numerical modelling is a representation of a previous experimental study. The specimen is stretched more than once its initial size, so that large strains occur. A hyper elastic Moonley-Rivlin law and a Griffith criterion are chosen. The finite elements analysis was performed with ABAQUS code (V.6.4.4). Practical implications: A damage criterion was suggested in the case of simple tension conditions by assuming large strain levels. an effective finite elements model has been developed to evaluate notch size effects on the load-displacement elastic response of 3D-DCB type specimen. Originality/value: This study proposes a threshold criterion for the damage just at the beginning of the tearing for Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) specimens from rubber composites and gives a detail discussion for explaining the damage mechanisms. Comparison of FEA results with those of experimental studies gives many facilities for the sake of simplicity in industrial applications.