Study of the simple extension tear test sample for rubber with Configurational Mechanics

The simple extension tear test-piece also referred to as the trousers sample is widely used to study crack propagation in rubber. The corresponding energy release rate, called tearing energy for rubber materials, was first established by Rivlin and Thomas (Rupture of rubber. I. Characteristic energy for tearing. J. Polym. Sci., 10:291–318, 1953); a second derivation was proposed later by Eshelby (The calculation of energy release rates. In G. C. Sih, H. C. van Elst, and D. Broek, editors, Prospects of Fracture Mechanics, 69–84, Leyden, Noordhoff, 1975).

We show here that the derivation of this result can be advantageously revisited through the scope of Configurational Mechanics. Our approach is based on the rigorous definition of the configurations of the body and on the physical significance of the configurational stress tensor. More precisely, it is demonstrated that the change in energy due to crack growth, and then the tearing energy, is directly related to the components of the configurational stress tensor in the body.