Interfacial damage on fatigue‐loaded textile–rubber composites

To reach admissible lifetime expectancy, unidirectional textile–rubber composites must show a strong interface. Usually, it is achieved by coating the textile with Resorcinol–Formaldehyde–Latex (RFL). To evaluate fatigue impact on interfacial properties, composites with or without RFL are tested at different numbers of loading cycles and characterized through peel tests, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), scanning electron microscopy and energy‐dispersive X‐rays, and nanoindentation. For composites with RFL, the results indicate two main mechanisms for damaging: propagation of pre‐existing fibrillar microcracks at the rubber/RFL interface completed by adhesive debondings at the RFL/textile interface. At first, the propagation of fibrillar microcracks is correlated with decrease of global composite peeling resistance and contribution of interphase to DMA damping. Then, RFL/textile debondings become critical. They are highlighted with a change of peeling failure surface and could be explained by RFL hardening, highlighted by nanoindentation. This questions the choice for RFL as a sustainable adhesive for composites under fatigue loading. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41346.