ABSTRACT
In many engineering applications, the elastomeric part has to endure repetitive fluctuating loadings during the service. The elastomer eventually experience fatigue failure under such loading condition (Cadwell et al. 1940). Mars (2001) identified two distinct phases during the process of fatigue failure. The first phase is the duration of the crack nucleation from free observable macrocracks. The second phase is followed by the propagation of the crack up to failure. Later on, the study of fracture behavior of rubber by few researchers (Mars and Fatemi 2003; Le Cam et al. 2008; Le Cam et al. 2013) revealed that the appearance of a particular macroscopic crack is a consequence of the microscopic crack propagation initiating from the pre-existing flaws in the virgin material. Indeed, the studies of fatigue in elastomers offer a high challenge in the mechanics of materials due to complex interactions between the matrix, fillers, plasticizers and other additives.
