Uniaxial fatigue behavior of thermal-aged cerium oxide-modified vulcanized natural rubber

The present work investigated the cyclic deformation behavior and fatigue life of thermal-aged cerium oxide (CeO2)-modified vulcanized natural rubber (NR/CeO2). Thermal aging was carried out at the temperature ranging from 60 to 100 °C for 24 h and 72 h, respectively. The experimental results show that the CeO2 filler is a useful reinforcing role, which can improve the comprehensive mechanical properties of the heat-aged vulcanizates. The uniaxial fatigue properties of thermal-aged NR/CeO2 rubber were studied at the strain amplitudes of 0–125%, 0–150% and 0–175%, respectively. The axial stress amplitude of NR/CeO2 is higher than that of NR. The CeO2 filler can significantly improve the fatigue strength of rubbers. When the aging temperature is lower than 80 °C, the fatigue life of NR/CeO2 is longer than that of NR at the axial strains of 0–125% and 0–150%.