Anisotropy in Gum and Black Filled SBR and NR Vulcanizates Due to Large Deformation

After imposing a large pre-strain, anisotropy increases with increasing residual extension ratio. Gums have very low residual extension ratio and exhibit little anisotropy, while black filled SBR and especially sulfur-cured carbon black filled NR have large set and anisotropy. For carbon black filled rubber, samples subjected to tensile loading in perpendicular to the pre-strain direction have the same stress-strain curves shape as the sample without pre-strain (=isotropic samples), but slightly lower modulus. However, compared to isotropic or perpendicular directional samples to pre-strain direction, samples subjected to tensile loading in parallel to the pre-strain direction show low stress at low deformation, but have high stiffness at high deformation. Normalized anisotropy changes with strain. The normalized anisotropy for various deformations is a linear function of residual extension ratio.