20.500.12556/RUL-185935 Fatigue life and failure mechanisms of cord-reinforced rubber composites: influence of fiber orientation, layer architecture, and matrix thickness This study investigates the fatigue life of cord-reinforced rubber composites subjected to fully reversed three-point bending. Although nominally a bending test, the high displacement amplitudes and low specimen stiffness lead to a tension-dominated loading state due to geometric nonlinearity. The research focuses on the influence of fiber orientation (0/90° vs. ±45°) and the number of reinforcement layers on fatigue durability. It was demonstrated that traditional parameters, such as strain amplitude or maximum strain, are insufficient to describe fatigue life under non-zero-mean-strain conditions. Instead, the Smith- Watson-Topper (SWT) and Walker models were successfully employed to unify the results. The findings reveal that ±45° configurations exhibit superior fatigue life compared to 0/90° layups under strain-controlled conditions, primarily due to fiber reorientation and lower internal stress levels. Analysis using the Walker model showed that single-layer composites are more sensitive to maximum strain (γ = 0.3), whereas double-layer systems are dominated by strain amplitude (γ = 0.7) due to interlaminar shear and internal friction. Furthermore, a critical relationship between matrix thickness and reinforcement ratio was identified: increasing rubber thickness improves durability in single-layer systems but deteriorates it in double-layer composites due to weakened crack-bridging mechanisms. SEM analysis confirmed these findings, highlighting the role of fiber pull-out and interlaminar degradation. Finally, the study highlights a lack of correlation between static tensile strength and fatigue performance, underscoring the need to account for viscoelastic effects in the design of cord-rubber structures. composite rubber fatigue uniaxial loading mean value kompoziti guma utrujanje enoosna obremenitev srednja vrednost true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-08-24 09:45:58 2026-08-24 09:46:08 2026-08-25 04:17:53 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 18 str. Vol. 214, art. 109926 2027 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 620.178.3:678.4 1879-3452 10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2026.109926 288149251 Glowacka_..._Fatigue_life....pdf Glowacka_..._Fatigue_life....pdf 1 B9D9D64A327DD059632D622A29529CEA 25e00e1d906e96f12b84f00aa4102a9631633898a261ad7a19f923eec5247198 a7f855dd-9f8f-11f1-9b0d-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=244949 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142112326004470 1 78da5967-9f8f-11f1-9b0d-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=244948 Fakulteta za strojništvo 0 0 0