Abstract
Ground tire rubber (GTR) is used to decrease the cost of vulcanizates. However, insufficient interactions between GTR particles and rubber matrices make mechanical properties of vulcanizates containing GTR deteriorate. This paper compares original methods of GTR modification. The effects of surface activation of GTR by sulfuric acid (A), its modification by (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxy silane (M), or the hybrid treatment—combining both approaches (H), were analyzed in terms of surface energy, specific surface area and morphology of GTR particles. Vulcanizates containing virgin GTR were compared to the rubber filled with the modified GTR particles keeping the same amount of CB in the rubber mix, according to their crosslink density, mechanical and tribological properties. Contrary to the virgin GTR, the addition of modified GTR increases the stiffness of the vulcanizates. The highest changes have been observed for the samples filled with ca. 12 phr of the GTR modified with silane and ca. 25 phr of the GTR subjected to the hybrid treatment, representing the highest crosslink density of rubber vulcanizates filled with GTR. Furthermore, the addition of modified GTR, especially in the case of the samples where 10 phr of rubber was replaced, results in the significant lowering of friction but higher abrasive wear.
Highlights
Sieve analysis of the ground tire rubber (GTR) powder revealed that ca. 98 % of its particles were of a size lower than 1 mm—Figure 2
The specific surface area of the ground tire rubber particles treated with sulfuric acid (GTR A) increased ca. 10 times in comparison to the virgin GTR (Table 2), the same as presented by Colom et al [32]—to 0.6202 ± 0.0224 m2 /g
Proposed methods for the surface modification of GTR do not lead to any significant changes in the mechanical properties of rubber vulcanizates with their addition when compared to SBR filled with the virgin ground tire rubber powder
Summary
The continuous development of the car industry is a reason for the increasing amount of waste from end-of-life vehicles and their components. Each car has about 60 kg of rubber parts, of which 2/3 originates from tires [1]. 3.4 million tons of used tires, of which about 1/3 were stored [2]. Recycling of this type of waste is problematic, due to their different and complex composition. There are several options to reuse worn car tires, such as retreading, burning to produce energy, or material recycling. The biggest potential for application in rubber technology, due to simplicity and economy, seems to be ground tire rubber (GTR)
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