Patents for March
Patents for the Rubber Industry as compiled by the editors of Rubber World for April
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2022
Evaluation of sustainable bituminous coal in elastomer applications
Austin Black 325 is a finely divided (below 325 mesh) powder produced from high carbon content, low volatility, sustainable bituminous coal. It has different properties compared to carbon black, including a lower specific gravity of 1.30 versus 1.80, a platy ground structure versus the reinforcing morphology of carbon black (figures 1 and 2), and a lower surface area in comparison to carbon black. Beyond its carbon composition, it is more similar in structure to platy fillers like clay and talc. The specific gravity comparison to other platy minerals (1.30 versus 2.50) provides economical and efficiency gains.
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Rheological and mechanical properties of masticated natural rubber and compounds
NR is usually masticated for viscosity reduction through breakdown of the long molecular chains to facilitate subsequent processing steps (e.g., extrusion and calendering) and improve rheological properties, such as die swell, shrinkage and building tack.
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February 2022
The February 2022 issue of Rubber World is now online.
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Environmentally friendly plasma black as drop-in replacement for furnace black
Monolith manufactures an environmentally friendly carbon black that results in two tons less CO2 emitted for every ton of carbon black produced. This carbon black has the same physical and colloidal properties as the incumbent furnace black, a process that was developed approximately 80 years ago. Monolith carbon black is manufactured using natural gas and renewable electricity, as opposed to pyrolysis fuel oil (PFO), so the product is a cleaner, more pure form of carbon black which is either a drop-in replacement for furnace black or very close in performance in rubber compounds. This article will explain the environmental advantage and present the physical properties as well as the performance data in rubber for Monolith’s new to the market plasma carbon black.
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Silanized aluminum trihydroxide as a green filler for improvement in the tire performance
A wide variety of rubber compositions is used in the tire industry. The base elastomers that are commonly used consist of blends of natural rubber (NR), butadiene rubber (BR) and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). It is apparent that the utilization of rubber without filler does not provide good properties for any application.
Therefore, filler is used to impart better properties to rubber products, with carbon black or silica used commercially. Other ingredients with different functionalities are also incorporated into rubber compounds, depending on the application; i.e., softeners, vulcanizing agents, accelerators, activators, retarders and antidegradants.
Low PAH thermal carbon black to meet regulatory requirements
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.
General considerations in failure analysis of rubber articles
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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Scalable rubber devulcanization manufacturing process developed
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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Patents for February
Patents as compiled by the editors or Rubber World for February 2022.
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