Mechanical Properties of Aged Cord-Rubber Composites

Abstract

Cord-rubber composites are usually subjected to cyclic deformation for the tire applications. Due to the hysteretic nature of the rubber, heat generation in the rubber component under dynamic cyclic loading often causes a rise in temperature, which can deteriorate the physical properties of the composites. Therefore, better understanding of the cord-rubber composites under thermal aging conditions is of great importance for the lifetime prediction. In the present work, the effective modulus of polyester cord- and steel cord-rubber composites at different aging conditions was studied by means of the mechanics of composite materials and the Arrhenius relationship based on the properties of components. It is found that the Halpin-Tsai relation with introducing the effect of thermal aging is also valid for the aged cord-rubber composites.