Investigation of the Potential of Using Liquid Rubbers in Rubber Industry

Abstract

Along with the developing technology in the rubber industry, the use of natural and synthetic rubbers as well as liquid rubbers has increased significantly in recent years. The formulation of the tread compound, which directly affects the performance of a tire, is generally produced from natural and synthetic rubbers. Intensive scientific studies have been carried out on liquid rubbers because they reduce the consumption of process oils used in the tire production phase and increase dispersion. In this study, the rheological and physico-mechanical properties of rubbers developed using only liquid rubber (liquid isoprene and liquid SBR) with four different viscosities and without using process oil (Styrene Butadiene Rubber—SBR) were investigated. It has been observed that the rubber blends produced by adding four different liquid rubbers to the same recipe caused changes in rheological and physico-mechanical properties compared to the reference sample. It was observed that the minimum torque/viscosity (ML), maximum torque/viscosity (MH) and curing time (t90) in some of the formulas tested decreased significantly due to the use of liquid rubber.