Essential work of fracture and viscoplastic response of a carbon black-filled thermoplastic elastomer

Observations are reported on a carbon black-filled thermoplastic elastomer in uniaxial cyclic tensile tests with various maximum strains and double-edge-notched-tensile (DENT) tests with various ligament widths at ambient temperature. It is shown that the stress-strain diagrams in DENT tests measured relatively far away from the ligament coincide with those in tensile cyclic tests on un-notched samples. To describe the viscoplastic response of un-notched specimens, constitutive equations are derived, and adjustable parameters are found by fitting the experimental data. It is demonstrated how the energy stored in a DENT sample under tension can be accounted for in calculations of the specific essential work of fracture.