Rubber, vulcanized — Determination of tension fatigue

ISO 6943:2017 specifies a method for the determination of the resistance of vulcanized rubbers to fatigue under repeated tensile deformations, the test piece size and frequency of cycling being such that there is little or no temperature rise. Under these conditions, failure results from the growth of a crack that ultimately severs the test piece.

The method is restricted to repeated deformations in which the test piece is relaxed to zero strain for part of each cycle. Analogous fatigue processes can occur under repeated deformations which do not pass through zero strain and also, in certain rubbers, under static deformation, but this document does not apply to these conditions.

The method is believed to be suitable for rubbers that have reasonably stable stress-strain properties, at least after a period of cycling, and that do not show undue stress softening or set, or highly viscous behaviour. Materials that do not meet these criteria might present considerable difficulties from the points of view of both experiment and interpretation. For example, for a rubber that develops a large amount of set during the fatigue test, the test strain will be ill-defined and the fatigue life