The Fatigue of Natural Vulcanized Rubbers

Abstract

We examined the deterioration of a tie pad material in relation to its dynamic fatigue when inserted between ties and rails. For the purpose of this investigation, we measured the tackifying and cracking phenomena of natural vulcanized rubbers by Demattia Flexing Machine. As the result, we found that the cracking phenomena appeared on the tension side of the test pieces and tackifying phenomena did on the compression side. We confirmed that it was very important to choose the most effective antioxidant under repetition of dynamic deformation.