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Low PAH thermal carbon black to meet regulatory requirements

RubberWorld 2057 Views , 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are present as impurities in the raw materials used for rubber
and plastic compounding, particularly in carbon black and extender oils. PAHs have the potential to cause
adverse health effects, and while there is confirmation that these chemicals are not bioavailable once
compounded into goods, the in-place legislation regulates the PAHs in raw and/or final materials (refs. 1-
3). Given these regulatory requirements, it is advantageous to make low PAH products available to the industry; in particular, for consumer rubber goods.

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General considerations in failure analysis of rubber articles

RubberWorld 2110 Views , 

Cutting edge technology is typically the focus of Rubber World’s technical articles. This somewhat more mundane feature will focus on the questions: What does one do when something breaks? What does one do when a product does not work as intended; and, more often than not, when someone needs an explanation yesterday? This article will discuss some general approaches and methodology applicable to failure analysis of rubber articles.

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ArticlesFeaturedTech Service

Scalable rubber devulcanization manufacturing process developed

RubberWorld 2812 Views , 

Rubbintec Inc. has developed and patented an innovative and scalable rubber “devulcanization” manufacturing process that cleanly and efficiently recovers high quality rubber from waste tires on an industrial scale. The recovered rubber can easily be revulcanized to make new rubber products, such as rubber mats, conveyor belts, footwear soles, rubber flooring, liners, membranes, field covers, railway sleeper pads, railway sleepers and tire treads, to name a few. A certain percentage of the devulcanized material can also be added to a tire manufacturer’s rubber mix, which would assist tire manufacturers to be part of the circular economy and to make their production more sustainable. The selling price is said to be less than virgin rubber. Together with its collaborator, Polylema, production of asphalt modifiers that can substitute for SBS, at a lower cost, will also take place.

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ArticlesFeaturedTesting & Instruments

How to increase throughput when testing elastomers

RubberWorld 3072 Views ,  , 

When elastomers are being used in a manufacturing process, it is important to verify their physical properties by performing testing
at all stages of production. When researching and developing new elastomers, such as those used in tires, extensive testing is required to verify and validate each elastomeric compound. Research and development facilities for elastomeric materials will sometimes go through hundreds or thousands of specimens before moving on toward production. During production, testing is typically performed for quality control purposes

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ArticlesFeaturedTesting & Instruments

Application of advanced gel permeation chromatography to the characterization of styrenic copolymers

RubberWorld 2764 Views , 

Products produced by anionic polymerization of nonpolar monomers, such as polybutadienes (BR), polyisoprenes (IR), solution styrene butadiene rubbers (SSBR) and styrenic block copolymers (SBC), already dominate important positions in industries. Examples include thermoplastic elastomers, adhesives, impact modifiers, lubricant modifiers, vulcanized compounds, asphalt modification and others. SBCs combine the properties of a thermoplastic resin, polystyrene and those of an elastomer, polybutadiene, polyisoprene or poly(ethylene-co-butylene). SBCs derive their useful properties from their ability to form distinct styrene (hard phase) and diene (rubber phase) domains

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ArticlesFeaturedTesting & Instruments

Optimized laboratory test condition to predict tire tread wear

RubberWorld 3291 Views , 

Research on the mechanism of tire wear and its rubber test methods has been carried out for more than a century, ever since the advent of pneumatic tires, and there are still numerous new reports being published even now. ISO 23794:2015 standardizes the general outline of 14 types of rubber wear test methods, such as the Akron wear test, the Lambourn wear test and the DIN wear test. The Akron wear test and Lambourn wear test, which introduce slippage between the pavement surface and the rubber sample, are suitable for evaluating tire tread wear resistance. Historically, Lambourn was the first to propose a laboratory wear tester that correlated with tire wear test results

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