Fatigue life and failure mechanisms of cord-reinforced rubber composites: influence of fiber orientation, layer architecture, and matrix thickness

Głowacka, Karolina (author), Małecka, J. (author), Pawliczek, Roland (author), Kurek, A. (author), Nagode, Marko (author), Klemenc, Jernej (author), Łagoda, Tadeusz (author)

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.

• Language: English
• Keywords: composite, rubber, fatigue, uniaxial loading, mean value
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 18 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 214, art. 109926
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185935
• UDC: 620.178.3:678.4
• ISSN on article: 1879-3452
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2026.109926
• COBISS.SI-ID: 288149251
• Publication date in RUL: 24.08.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of fatigue
• Shortened title: Int. j. fatigue
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1879-3452
• COBISS.SI-ID: 118834179

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: kompoziti, guma, utrujanje, enoosna obremenitev, srednja vrednost

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: National Science Centre Poland
• Project number: 2022/47/I/ST8/00003
• Name: Opus

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: N2-0326
• Name: Eksperimentalna in numerična analiza statičnega in dinamičnega upogibnega obremenjevanja kompozitov z gumeno matrico