Experimental investigation of the fatigue effect of curing kinematics on rubber materials

Natural rubber derivative materials, which are one of the elastomeric materials frequently used in the aviation and automotive industry, pass through the production phase with curing in line with preferences for different uses and purposes between 140 oC and 180 oC temperature values. During the production phase, the curing temperature and thermal temperature distribution directly affect the curing status of the final product to be obtained. Failure of the temperature distribution to reach the same value in all parts of the final product during the curing phase is one of the problems frequently encountered during the production phase. As the part size changes, the difference in curing temperature and curing status between the inner and outer zones causes the mechanical properties of the final product not to be homogeneously distributed. In this thesis, the lifetime of natural rubber-based test pieces produced at different temperature values and curing times were examined by full relaxing tensile fatigue experimental tests. For this purpose, the preliminary parameters of the production and testing phase were determined with the help of MSC Patran and MSC Nastran computer aided structural and thermal analysis software. After determining the appropriate material size, shape and variable cooking times with temperature and stress distribution analysis, samples produced from natural rubber with these parameters were subjected to uniaxial tensile life tests. Thus, the effect of curing temperature value and curing time parameters, which are important parameters in the production phase, on the life span of the material was experimentally investigated. The final products produced at three different temperatures and production times were subjected to uniaxial fatigue tests and the effect of curing status improvement study on fatigue life was examined and the results obtained were compared.