Dynamic mechanical properties and flexing fatigue resistance of tire sidewall rubber as function of waste tire rubber reclaiming degree
Lan Ma, Zhen Zhang, Zonglin Peng, Krzysztof Formela, Shifeng Wang
Abstract
Abstract A stepwise downsizing method of gel particles in reclaimed rubber to a micro‐nano scale and its excellent dynamic performance in tire sidewall were introduced by this work. The results showed that the size of gel particles decreased from several micrometers to micro‐nanometers with the increase of reclaiming degree, accompanied by reduced molecular weight and widened molecular weight distribution of sol fraction. The addition of reclaimed rubber with low Mooney viscosity improved the dynamic mechanical properties of the natural rubber/butadiene rubber blends effectively, including wet resistance and rolling resistance. Moreover, the flexing fatigue resistance has also been improved dozens of times compared to traditional tire sidewall.