Vibration Isolation Properties of Vulcanizates of Scrap Rubber Powder

Abstract

Abstract Rubber powder recovered from old tires is recognized as a valuable raw material which may be processed into several useful products. In the cure cycles described, the rubber powder with sulfur as vulcanizing agent, with no virgin parent compound, can be converted to a useful viscoelastic material. This article is concerned with the static and dynamic vibration properties of these viscoelastic rubber materials, as well as their mechanical properties. At the optimum curing conditions (180°C, 10 min, 10 MPa), the effect of sulfur and DOP plasticizer on the vibration properties of the materials are of interest. It is possible to prepare a material, suitable for use in antivibration mountings, by choosing the right values of sulfur and plasticizer, according to the vibration characteristics of the machine, i.e., its mass and natural undamped resonant frequency.