Quality Characterization of Dried Crumb Rubber

Abstract

Rubber research on how the rubber quality being affected by drying process is rather limited in the public domain. This paper aims to summarize the findings of the quality characterization of rubber based on total rubber network and thermo-oxidative phenomenon based on three different drying strategies (vacuum drying, hot air drying and infrared drying). In this study, vacuum drying has the highest drying rate and internal mass transfer mechanism comparing to hot air drying and infrared drying in a fixed drying condition. The quality test showed that rubber dried at temperature between 65°C to 90°C could ensure preservation of rubber strength as in total rubber network and rubber’s plasticity. There is strong correlation between the drying temperature and rubber quality, where a balance between the drying temperature and the drying time is necessarily to maximize the quality of the dried crumb rubber.