Mechano-Chemical Reclamationof Waste Rubber Powder andIts Effect on the performanceof NR and SBR Vulcanizates

Abstract

Waste rubber powder (RP) was processed in a Brabenderpremixer under various conditions in the presence of reclaiming agents toconvert the RP into plastic mass (reclaimed rubber), then the obtained reclaimwas blended with both NR and SBR in different ratios. It was found that thebehavior of the reclaim in both NR and SBR is the same. The rheometriccharacteristics show that by increasing the reclaim ratio, the curing time wasdecreased and consequently the cure rate index was increased. Also themaximum torque of the same rubber compounds was decreased. The physico-mechanical data of the reclaim/NR and reclaim/SBR blends showthat the tensile strength as well as elongation at break were decreased withincreasing the reclaim ratio in the blend. On the other hand the equilibrium swellingwas increased. However one can replace about 10–30% of NR or SBR by thereclaim without sacrificing the essential characteristics of the rubber vulcanizates.