Abstract:Propagation direction of rubber crack under dry friction is closely related to the initial precracked angle. The study on crack propagation of rubber was now mainly concentrated on the effect of rubber formula and crack propagation mechanism under the action of tension, compression or shear, while there was few research about the effect of precracked angle on the crack propagation under dry friction condition. In this paper, crack propagation direction of rubber specimens with different precracked angles was observed and the tearing energy of crack tip was calculated through the reciprocating friction experiment and ANSYS finite element analysis. The results show that the crack propagation path of rubber can be basically divided into the initial propagation stage, horizontal propagation stage and final fracture stage. With the increase of procracked angle, the time for the above three stages is increased. The tearing energy of crack tip is increased with initial precracked angle, and the results of finite element analysis are in good agreement with that of experiment.