Characterization of the mullins effect of carbon-black filled rubbers

Several carbon-black filled styrene-butadiene rubbers showed different sensibilities to the Mullins softening when submitted to cyclic uniaxial tension. In order to quantify this softening, a damage parameter was introduced. It is defined by using a classic damage approach and can be estimated by using either the strain amplification factor method or the tangent modulus at zero stress. The proposed parameter is used to study the effects of crosslink density and filler amount on the Mullins softening. The latter is shown to remain unaffected by a change of crosslink density and to increase with an increase of filler amount. The damage parameter exhibits mere linear dependences on the maximum Hencky strain applied and on the filler volume fraction. A simple linear expression is given finally to predict the Mullins softening of filled rubbers. The parameter also provides an objective analysis for the Mullins softening that supports comments on a better understanding of this effect.