Vulcanization kinetics study of natural rubber compounds having different formulation variables

Abstract

Vulcanization kinetics of natural rubber (NR) compounds with efficient vulcanization system was studied through phenomenological approach using the experimentally cure data obtained from a moving die rheometer. The cure kinetic parameters were defined using the proposed models by Claxton–Liska and Deng–Isayev with the support of curve fitting software. The effects of the amount of accelerators, sulfur and silica in the formulations on the cure characteristics and cure kinetic parameters at high cure temperatures were investigated. Kinetic data results showed that the above two models were able to describe the curing behaviour of the studied compounds satisfactorily. It showed that the fitting of the experimental data with Claxton–Liska and Deng–Isayev could provide a good platform to investigate the cure kinetics of the prepared NR compounds.