Ultrasonic properties and morphology of devulcanized rubber blends

Abstract

AbstractThe ultrasonic properties of two devulcanized rubber (DR) blends with a styrene‐butadiene‐styrene (SBS) copolymer compound (ACE) are investigated using a transmission method. The DR materials are obtained from commercial rubber crumbs (RC) by a proprietary devulcanization technique. Measurements on the acoustic attenuation and travel velocity are conducted on the samples with different sample thicknesses in the pulsed mode. Attenuation coefficients of the materials are obtained by changing the frequency of the ultrasound in the tuned tone‐burst mode. The two DR/ACE blends show marked differences in the attenuation and attenuation coefficient, although the ultrasonic velocities are similar. These differences arise from the variation of the remaining degree of crosslinking in the DR materials. The acoustic velocities in the three materials are similar. The morphologies of the DR/ACE blend samples, observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with different staining agents, explain their similarities and differences. There are two crops of rubber particles: larger ones belong to the original rubber crumbs that survived devulcanization; the smaller ones are fragments of partially DR. These crosslinked particles contribute to the overall degree of crosslinking in the blends. The devulcanized fractions of the DR materials are dispersed in the ACE matrix. Scattering at the interface accounts for the differences in the acoustic attenuation of the samples. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012