Behaviour and mechanism of fatigue crack growth in aramid-fibre-reinforced styrene–butadiene rubber composites

Abstract Aramid fibres (AF)/styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) filled with carbon black (CB) exhibit different fatigue behaviours with changes in fatigue strain. A mechanism for the effect of the fibres attracting fatigue cracks in the process of crack growth was proposed. The fibre effect parameter, α, was calculated from the power law relationship between the crack growth rate and the tearing energy, to evaluate the comprehensive effect of the AFs on fatigue crack growth rate. Furthermore, the effect of the attraction of fatigue cracks by fibres with a good bonded flexible interface layer was more prominent, and the fatigue crack propagation could be effectively suppressed.