Tear resistance of sparsely reinforced elastomer sheets

Abstract A family of elastomer composites has been developed which has outstanding tear resistance, and good tensile strength and elongation to failure as measured in a standard tensile test. These composites constitute a family in that they all are sparsely reinforced by a fishnet‐like webbing of reinforcement. The members of the family differ in that the reinforcements can be as flexible as soft polyurethane rod or as stiff as carbon fiber with 3000 strands per fiber. All these composites produce outstanding tear strength and an increase in the elongation to failure in an ASTM Die‐C type of tear test. The intersections of the polyurethane rod reinforcements prove to be effective crack arrestors.