Abstract
Currently, rubber products cannot simply be reprocessed after their product life, due to the irreversible cross-linking methods traditionally applied. The purpose of this work is to investigate how thermoreversible cross-linking of rubbers via Diels Alder chemistry can be used for the development of recyclable rubber products. Unfortunately, the applicability of the thermoreversible EPM-g-furan/BM system appears to be limited to room temperature applications, because of the rapid deterioration of the compression set at elevated temperatures compared to irreversibly cross-linked EPM. However, the use of EPM rubber modified with thiophene or cyclopentadiene moieties may extend the temperature application range and results in rubber products with acceptable properties. Finally, rubber products generally comprise fillers such as silica, carbon black or fibers. In this context, the reinforcing effect of short cut aramid fibers on the material properties of the newly developed thermoreversibly cross-linked EPM rubbers was also studied. The material properties of the resulting products were found to be comparable to those of a fiber reinforced, peroxide cured reference sample.
Highlights
Rubber products have become an integral and essential part of our daily lives over the last 150 years since the invention of sulphur vulcanization by Charles Goodyear
The compression set was studied as a function of relaxation time at room temperature for the 3 mentioned rubber products after 70 h of compression at room temperature (Figure 1A) and as a function of the compression time at room temperature followed by 30 min relaxation at room temperature (Figure 1B)
The compression set of the BM cross-linked EPM-g-furan, the sulfur vulcanized and peroxide cured EPDM reference samples decreases with the time after the imposed compression
Summary
Rubber products have become an integral and essential part of our daily lives over the last 150 years since the invention of sulphur vulcanization by Charles Goodyear. Cross-linking prevents melt processability, making it difficult to recycle cross-linked rubber products, at least in a cradle-to-cradle context. Cross-linking is applied to obtain materials that combine the elastic properties of a permanently cross-linked rubber at service conditions with the melt (re)processability of a non-crosslinked rubber or thermoplastic. In our previous studies a commercial ethylene-propylene rubber (EPM) grafted with maleic anhydride has first been modified with furfurylamine to introduce furan groups along the rubber backbone. These pendant furan groups were cross-linked with a bismaleimide (BM) via a DA coupling reaction (Figure 1)
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