Thermomechanical devulcanization of butyl rubber using twin-screw extruder: Process parameters, viscoelastic and compatibility properties

Abstract

Thermomechanical devulcanization of butyl rubber (BR1), bromobutyl rubber (BR2) vulcanizates, both prepared in laboratory, and a waste commercial butyl rubber (BR3) using a twin-screw extruder is reported. The commercial butyl rubber vulcanizate (BR3) was used as a tire curing bladder and the waste rubber received from a tire manufacturing company. The devulcanization process was carried out at various barrel temperatures and screw speeds (40, 80 and 120 r/min). The lowest sol fraction was obtained for devulcanized waste commercial butyl rubber (D-BR3). According to Horikx theory, devulcanized butyl rubber (D-BR1) presented mainly crosslink breakup while devulcanized bromobutyl rubber (D-BR2) and devulcanized waste commercial butyl rubber (D-BR3) showed a mixture of main chain and crosslink scission. As cure rheographs at 190°C indicated, the addition of devulcanized rubbers to the corresponding virgin ones influenced both scorch and optimal cure times. The tensile properties of devulcanized/virgin rubber blends changed depending on the blend type and virgin rubber. The stress relaxation experiment revealed that the addition of devulcanized rubber to virgin one mostly influenced short relaxation times and also decreased G0. BR1/D-BR3 blends exhibited higher elastic component than BR1/D-BR1 and BR2/D-BR2 samples. The Han plots revealed higher compatibility for BR2/D-BR2 blends.