AbstractThe phenomenon of ozone cracking has been investigated for elastomer blends containing an ozone‐reactive phase (natural rubber) and an ozone‐inert phase (ethylene–propylene rubber). Electron microscopical studies reveal phase separation in the blend and the locus of ozone attack. Ozone cracks traverse the reactive phase and occasionally jump across inert particles without severing them. This mechanism provides the basis of a theory which correctly predicts the dependence of both the critical stored energy for ozone cracking and the crack density upon the blend compos
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