Relation between stress and segmental orientation during mechanical cycling of a natural rubber-based compound

X-ray diffraction technique is used to evaluate the evolution of the segmental orientation in a natural rubber sample during mechanical uniaxial stretching and in the Gaussian regime condition. The method proves to be sensitive enough for testing the validity of the stress-optical law. Measurements are performed at different temperatures and show that the dependence of the orientation parameter upon elongation is very close to the prediction of classical phantom theories. On the contrary, a significant Mooney-Rivlin correction is needed to account for the stress-strain relation. Consequently, systematic deviations from the stress-optical law are observed, in particular for elongations below 2. These deviations are adverse from predictions of both the constrained and the diffuse junction theories. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015, 53, 943-950