Measuring threshold tear

When the tearing (fracture) energy is measured under conditions at which energy is not dissipated in viscous processes, its value is termed the threshold tearing energy, T0 (30,31,32). If T0 for the TIPA elastomer is the same as that for a hydrocarbon elastomer whose 2Cj equals that for the... 

Considering the data scatter at the threshold end of the master curves, it is not possible to distinguish one method of normalization over the other. In fact, for low M, networks it can be argued that the small differences between the two theories will not be detectable for characteristically scattered measurements such as tearing. Over the entire Tg shifted temperature range, however, it is obvious that the normalization yields less scattered data and a better defined master curve. 

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