Synergistically improving the anti-reversion property of natural rubber by zinc glycerolate and zinc laurate as environmentally friendly activators

Abstract

Sulfur-vulcanized nature rubber (NR) usually accompanies with reversion, which is of great challenge to the application of the NR products. In this work, zinc glycerolate in combination with zinc laurate was incorporated into sulfur-vulcanized NR, for the purpose of effectively substituting the traditional activator zinc oxide. Curing characteristics, physical and mechanical properties and dynamic viscoelastic behavior of the sulfur-vulcanized NR were investigated. Compared with solo addition of zinc glycerolate, zinc glycerolate/zinc laurate significantly improved the anti-reversion property of the sulfur-vulcanized NR. Incorporation of zinc laurate also enhanced the processing fluidity, filler dispersion, and rolling resistance of the sulfur-vulcanized NR. Moreover, the mole fraction of zinc was reduced by 51% with using zinc glycerolate/zinc laurate, compared with the traditional vulcanizates activated by zinc oxide. Our work provides a green approach to fabricate sulfur-vulcanized NR with outstanding anti-reversion performance.