• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.156-176
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• 1999

Rubber chemicals such as accelerators, antidegradants, vulcanizing agents, processing agents and retarders are very important to the production and protection of tires and rubber goods. The use of accelerators and antidegradants are evaluated in various tire components. This paper will focus on how to vulcanize tires economically and maintain the physical properties of each tire component without severe degradation due to oxygen, heat and ozone. Also, new non-nitrosoamine accelerators and non-staining antiozonants will be discussed. Lastly, the future requirements of antidegradants and accelerators in the tire industry will be reviewed. Tires have been vulcanized with Sulfenamides as primary accelerators and either Guamdine's or Thiurams as secondary accelerators to achieve proper properties at service conditions. However, interior components such as the carcass can be vulcanized with Thiazoles as a primary accelerator to cure faster than the external components. Using the combination of Sulfenamide with secondary accelerators in a tire tread compound and the combination of a Thiazole and Guanidine in a carcass compound will be presented with performance data. Uniroyal Chemical and another Rubber Chemical Manufacturer have developed, "Tetrabenzyl Thiuram Disulfide," (TBzTD) as a non-Nitrosoamine accelerator, which could replace Nitrosoamine generating Thiurams. This new accelerator has been evaluated in a tread compound as a secondary accelerator. Also, Flexsys has developed N-t-butyl-2-benzothiazole Sulfenamide (TBSI) as a non-Nitrosoamine accelerator which could replace 2-(Morpholinothio) -benzothiazole (MBS), a scorch delayed Sulfendamide accelerator. TBSI has been evaluated in a Natural Rubber (NR) belt skim compound vs. MBS. An optimum low rolling resistant cure system has been developed in a NR tread with Dithiomorpholine (DTDM). Also, future requirements for developing accelerators will be discussed such as the replacement of DTDM and other stable crosslink systems. Antidegradants are divided into two different types for use in tire compounds. Internal tire compounds such as apex, carcass, liner, wire breaker, cushion, base tread and bead compounds are protected by antioxidants against degradation from oxygen and heat due to mechanical shear. The external components such as sidewall, chafer and cap tread com-pounds are protected from ozone by antiozonants and waxes. Various kinds of staining and non-staining antioxidants have been evaluated in a tire carcass compound. Also, various para-phenylene diamine antiozonants have been evaluated in a tire sidewall compound to achieve the improved lifetime of the tire. New non-staining antiozonants such as 2, 4, 6-tris-(N-1, 4-dimethylpentyl-p-phenylene diamine) 1, 3, 5 Trizine (D-37) and un-saturated Acetal (AFS) will be discussed in the tire sidewall to achieve better appearance. The future requirements of antidegradants will be presented to improve tire performance such as durability, better appearance and longer lasting tires.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.297-309
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• 2012

Different amounts of foaming agents were employed in natural rubber(NR)/butadiene rubber(BR) blends to understand the foaming behavior in presence of nano-reinforcing agent, zinc methacrylate (ZMA). The ZMA greatly improved most of the mechanical properties of the rubber foams, however it did not show considerable effect on the cell morphology, such as cell size, density and porosity. It was also observed that the foaming agent concentration affected all the mechanical parameters. When the content of foaming agent was increased, the number of foams was increased leading to a decrease in density of the compounds. But the size and distribution of foams remained unchanged with increased foaming agent. The effect of high styrene-butadiene rubber (HSBR) was also studied. The size of cells became smaller and the cell uniformity was improved with increasing HSBR. The foam rubber compounds showed much efficient energy absorbing capability at higher strains.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.13-31
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• 1984

The purposes of this dissertation are to demonstrate that DSC theromoanaytical methods of vulcanization can provide useful informations on the vulcanization characteristics of industrial formulations and also provides the potential basis for a rapid and complete method of sulfur and vulcanizing accelerator analysis for quality control. The influences of those factors such as heating rate, scan temperature, vucanizing accelerator's type and concentration upon vulcanization exotherm in NR and NBR compounds in the presence of vulcanizing accelerators such as TMTD,MBTS,DPG,TMTM,CBS, and MBT were evaluated by means of DSC. In order to examine the credibility in the DSC method, the same samples which were used for DSC method were studied to compare the DSC results with the ODR (Oscillating Disk Rheometer) data. The results obtained were as follows 1. In the DSC dynamic experiments, the observed enthalpy results from vulcanization depends upon the heating rate; In the range of 2 to $20^{\circ}C/min$ of heating rate, as the heating rate was increased the enthalpy change was also increased. However, over the heating rate of $30^{\circ}C/min$ it was observed that the enthalpy change was decreased as the heating rate was further increased. Without regard to the change of enthalpy, tremendous instantaneous heat evolving was observed in the range of high heating rates. 2. For the samples which are added with various vulcanizing accelerators, the activation energies of vulcanization were as follows; 3. Regarding to the influences of vulcanizining accelerator's types upon the characteristics of vulcanization exotherm, NR and NBR compounds in the presence of thiuramsulphide compounds type accelerators such as TMTD, TMTM, were exhibited sharper and higher vulclanization exotherm than others. From the resuts of DSC thermograms which was distributed in even shape in the broad temperature range, it was clearly shown that the guanidine compounds type accelerator such as DPG acts as a delayed acting accelerator. 4. In the comparison of DSC and ODR results, the dependency of temperature in the cure rate and the observed conversions show good agreements between two results. 5. In the same curatives, by the comparison of glass transition temperatures, it was possible to predict relative values of maximum torques. Consequently, from the present studies, it is shown that the DSC thermoanalytical method can provide an alternate new method for rapid and complete quality control analysis of rubber industry.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.22-33
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• 2009

Recently, elastomer-nanocomposites reinforced with low volume fraction of nanofillers have attracted great interest due to their fascinating properties. The incorporation of nanofillers, such as, layered silicate clays, carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, calcium carbonate, metal oxides or silica nanoparticles into elastomers improves significantly their mechanical, thermal, dynamic mechanical, barrier properties, flame retardancy, etc. The properties of nanocomposites depend greatly on the chemistry of polymer matrices, nature of nanofillers, and the method in which they are prepared. The uniform dispersion of nanofillers in elastomer matrices is a general prerequisite for achieving desired mechanical and physical characteristics. In this paper, current developments in the field of elastomer nanocomposites reinforced with layered silicates, silica, carbon nanotubes, nanofibers and various other nanoparticles have been addressed.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.234-242
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• 2021

The demand for truck bus radial (TBR) tires with enhanced fuel efficiency and wear resistance have grown in recent years. In addition, as the issue of particulate matter and air pollution increases, efforts are being made to reduce the generation of particulate matter. In this study, the properties of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) containing a silica-friendly functional group were evaluated by considering it as a base rubber and varying the silica ratio in this binary filler system. The results showed that the wear resistance of the NR/BR blend compound decreased as the silica ratio increased. In contrast, the ENR/BR blend compound exhibited an increase in wear resistance as the silica ratio was increased. In particular, the ENR-50/BR blend compound showed the best wear resistance due to the presence of several epoxide groups. Furthermore, we observed that for tan 𝛿 at 60℃, higher epoxide content resulted in the higher T_g of the rubber, indicating a higher tan 𝛿 at 60℃. On the other hand, it was confirmed that increasing the silica ratio decreased the value of tan 𝛿 at 60℃ in all compounds. In addition, we measured the amount of wear particulate matters generated from the compound wear. These measurements confirmed that in the binary filler system, regardless of the filler type, the quantity of the generated wear particulate matters as the filler-rubber interaction increased. In conclusion, the silica filled ENR/BR blend compound exhibited the lowest generation of wear particulate matters.

• Composites Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2008

Rubber hose assembly for automotive hydraulic brake during operation is subject to combined stresses of cyclic pressure, cyclic bending and torsion as well as thermal load. The rubber hose is composed of ethylene-propylene diene monomer(EPDM) rubber layers reinforced by polyvinyl acetate(PVA) braided fabrics. A durability tester with loading rigs for inducing the above cyclic stresses was used to investigate failure mechanisms in the rubber hose assembly. Failure examination was performed at every 100 thousands cycles of bending and torsion. Hose samples were sectioned with a diamond-wheel cutter and then polished. The polished surface was observed by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Some interfacial delamination with a length of about 1mm along the interface between EPDM rubber and PVA fabrics was shown at the test cycles of 400,000. The delamination induced some cracking into the outer rubber skin layer to leading the final rupture of the hose.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.64-72
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• 2024

As air pollution continues to increase owing to increasing traffic centered in urban areas, the tire industry is researching methods to reduce particulate matter. In this study, functionalized lithium butadiene rubber (F-LiBR) was applied to a natural rubber (NR)/butadiene rubber (BR) blend compound often used in truck bus radial (TBR) tire treads. The effect of the functional group that can react with carbon black (CB) in BR was investigated in terms of the dispersion of CB and the compound performance, including the generation of particulate matter. Compounds that were substituted with F-LiBR exhibited enhanced interaction with CB, resulting in excellent filler dispersion. Although F-LiBR exhibited lower crosslinking density and inferior abrasion resistance due to its high vinyl content, the compound with 30 phr of F-LiBR was advantageous in terms of its rolling resistance due to the excellent filler dispersion, which was also effective in reducing the amount of generated particulate matter (up to 56% reduction for PM_2.5, and 67% reduction for PM₁₀). The results confirmed the benefits of the introduction of functional groups into TBR tire tread compounds, which can aid in improving the fuel efficiency and reducing particulate matter generation.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.147-156
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• 2006

To investigate the influence of the foaming temperature and carbon black content on the cure behaviors and foaming characteristics of the foams. natural rubber (NR) was foamed at five temperature zones (145, 150, 155, 160 and $165^{\circ}C$) and different feeding ratios of the carbon black. A decreasing trend of the scorch time, $t_{s2}$ and cure time, $t_{90}$ was observed upon increasing foaming temperature and carbon black content. The optimal temperature for vulcanization and foaming of NRs in this study was considered to be $165^{\circ}C$ where density of the loomed NRs is lower than those at other four temperature regions. The rule rate index of the NRs foamed at $145^{\circ}C$ is smaller than those at 150, 155, 160 and $165^{\circ}C$. The results of the expansion ratio and micrographs of the foamed NRs were founded to support the density characteristics. The thickness of each of the struts formed inside the rubber matrix decreases with increasing the foaming temperature, while it increases with increasing the carbon black content.