On the Small Strain Behavior of Peroxide Crosslinked Natural Rubber

Torque and normal force measurements on a cylinder subjected to torsion at constant length were used to study the behavior of NR crosslinked with 5 phr dicumyl peroxide. The derivatives of the strain-energy density function ∂W/∂I1 and ∂W/∂I2 were calculated from the data using the scaling law of Penn and Kearsley. The new results extend the limit of small strains at which the strain-energy density function derivatives have been measured to γ<0.005 and further confirm our previous results that for peroxide-crosslinked NR, ∂W/∂I2 does not become negative at small strain, contrary to several reports in the literature. Reduced stress was determined for the rubber by using the approach of Kearsley and Zapas to calculate the derivative w′(λ) of the Valanis-Landel form of the strain energy function. The results were compared with the measured values for reduced stress in tension and compression at small strains. While the deviation between the predictions and the experimental behavior do not exceed 6%, the characters of the calculated and measured reduced stress plots are different. The measurements in torsion were not obtained at small enough strains to enable direct comparison with the extension/compression behavior at |ε|<0.002. Extrapolation of the results did not produce the anomalous cusp observed in the reduced stress for 0.998<1/λ<1.002 which was reported in our previous study. The fact that torsional data do not show the cusp offers support to the Kearsley suggestion that at these extremely small deformations, rubber compressibility may play an important role in the stress-strain behavior. This could also explain the apparent discrepancy between the predicted Valanis-Landel behavior and the observed behavior. Future work involving higher precision experiments is required to resolve the matter.