Abstract :
The simple extension tear test-piece also
referred to as the trousers sample iswidely used to study
crack propagation in rubber. The corresponding energy
release rate, called tearing energy for rubber materials,
was first established by Rivlin and Thomas (J Polym
Sci, 10:291-318, 1953); a second derivationwas proposed
later by Eshelby (InG.C. Sih,H. C. van Elst, and D.
Broek, editors, Prospects of Fracture Mechanics, 69-
84, Leyden, 1975). We show here that the derivation
of this result can be advantageously revisited through
the scope of Configurational Mechanics. Our approach
is based on the rigorous definition of the configurations
of the body and on the physical significance of
the configurational stress tensor. More precisely, it is
demonstrated that the change in energy due to crack
growth, and then the tearing energy, is directly related
to the components of the configurational stress tensor
in the body
