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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2016) | Viewed by 57203

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Prof. Dr. Dariusz M. Bieliński

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Institute of Polymer and Dye Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 12/16, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
Interests: engineering and technology of elastomers; polymer materials; composites and nanocomposites; modification of polymers; exploitation of polymer materials; fire protection of polymers; surface engineering; tribology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Progress in polymer chemistry and technology has not omitted elastomers and rubber goods, opening new possibilities and fields of application. To make familiar broader group of readers, both from academia and industry, with the achievements, the journal Materials addresses the Special Issue on "Advances in Research on Elastomers”.

Materials (ISSN 1996‐1944) is an Open Access journal of materials science. The journal is indexed by SCIE, EI, Scopus, and gets high visibility. Its 2014 Impact Factor is 2.651, and ranks 54/259 (Q1) in the category "Materials Science, Multidisciplinary".

Research papers or reviews, presenting latest achievements in the field of synthesis, technology, analysis, application, exploitation and recycling of rubbers and elastomers, or any related topics one feels to be important or interesting for science or industry are welcome. Contributions are to be subjected to the standard journal reviewing process. All accepted papers are planned to be gathered together on a homepage.

We would like to invite you to participate in this venture by submitting a paper. This could help in popularization of the knowledge on elastomers and to gain the reputation they deserve among other functional and engineering materials.

Prof. Dariusz M. Bieliński
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

rubber
elastomer
rubber chemistry
rubber technology
structure and properties
analysis
modification and engineering
applications
recycling

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

2284 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Upscaling of a Batch De-Vulcanization Process for Ground Car Tire Rubber to a Continuous Process in a Twin Screw Extruder

by Sitisaiyidah Saiwari, Johannes W. Van Hoek, Wilma K. Dierkes, Louis E.A.M. Reuvekamp, Geert Heideman, Anke Blume and Jacques W.M. Noordermeer

Materials 2016, 9(9), 724; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9090724 - 24 Aug 2016

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 6085

Abstract

As a means to decrease the amount of waste tires and to re-use tire rubber for new tires, devulcanization of ground passenger car tires is a promising process. Being an established process for NR and EPDM, earlier work has shown that for ground passenger car tire rubber with a relatively high amount of SBR, a devulcanization process can be formulated, as well. This was proven for a laboratory-scale batch process in an internal mixer, using diphenyl disulfide as the devulcanization aid and powder-sized material. In this paper, the devulcanization process for passenger car tire rubber is upscaled from 15 g per batch and transformed into a continuous process in a co-rotating twin screw extruder with a capacity of 2 kg/h. As SBR is rather sensitive to devulcanization process conditions, such as thermal and mechanical energy input, the screw design was based on a low shear concept. A granulate with particle sizes from 1–3.5 mm was chosen for purity, as well as economic reasons. The devulcanization process conditions were fine-tuned in terms of: devulcanization conditions (time/temperature profile, concentration of devulcanization aid), extruder parameters (screw configuration, screw speed, fill factor) and ancillary equipment (pre-treatment, extrudate handling). The influence of these parameters on the devulcanization efficiency and the quality of the final product will be discussed. The ratio of random to crosslink scission as determined by a Horikx plot was taken for the evaluation of the process and material. A best practice for continuous devulcanization will be given. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Elastomers)

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12868 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phase Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Cyclic Butylene Terephthalate Oligomer-Containing Rubbers: Effect of Mixing Temperature

by István Zoltán Halász and Tamás Bárány

Materials 2016, 9(9), 722; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9090722 - 24 Aug 2016

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4533

Abstract

In this work, the effect of mixing temperature (T_mix) on the mechanical, rheological, and morphological properties of rubber/cyclic butylene terephthalate (CBT) oligomer compounds was studied. Apolar (styrene butadiene rubber, SBR) and polar (acrylonitrile butadiene rubber, NBR) rubbers were modified by CBT (20 phr) for reinforcement and viscosity reduction. The mechanical properties were determined in tensile, tear, and dynamical mechanical analysis (DMTA) tests. The CBT-caused viscosity changes were assessed by parallel-plate rheometry. The morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). CBT became better dispersed in the rubber matrices with elevated mixing temperatures (at which CBT was in partially molten state), which resulted in improved tensile properties. With increasing mixing temperature the size of the CBT particles in the compounds decreased significantly, from few hundred microns to 5–10 microns. Compounding at temperatures above 120 °C and 140 °C for NBR and SBR, respectively, yielded reduced tensile mechanical properties most likely due to the degradation of the base rubber. The viscosity reduction by CBT was more pronounced in mixes with coarser CBT dispersions prepared at lower mixing temperatures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Elastomers)

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6396 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Network Structure on Glass Transition Temperature of Elastomers

by Katarzyna Bandzierz, Louis Reuvekamp, Jerzy Dryzek, Wilma Dierkes, Anke Blume and Dariusz Bielinski

Materials 2016, 9(7), 607; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9070607 - 22 Jul 2016

Cited by 96 | Viewed by 12283

Abstract

It is generally believed that only intermolecular, elastically-effective crosslinks influence elastomer properties. The role of the intramolecular modifications of the polymer chains is marginalized. The aim of our study was the characterization of the structural parameters of cured elastomers, and determination of their influence on the behavior of the polymer network. For this purpose, styrene-butadiene rubbers (SBR), cured with various curatives, such as DCP, TMTD, TBzTD, Vulcuren^®, DPG/S₈, CBS/S₈, MBTS/S₈ and ZDT/S₈, were investigated. In every series of samples a broad range of crosslink density was obtained, in addition to diverse crosslink structures, as determined by equilibrium swelling and thiol-amine analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were used to study the glass transition process, and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) to investigate the size of the free volumes. For all samples, the values of the glass transition temperature (T_g) increased with a rise in crosslink density. At the same time, the free volume size proportionally decreased. The changes in T_g and free volume size show significant differences between the series crosslinked with various curatives. These variations are explained on the basis of the curatives’ structure effect. Furthermore, basic structure-property relationships are provided. They enable the prediction of the effect of curatives on the structural parameters of the network, and some of the resulting properties. It is proved that the applied techniques—DSC, DMA, and PALS—can serve to provide information about the modifications to the polymer chains. Moreover, on the basis of the obtained results and considering the diversified curatives available nowadays, the usability of “part per hundred rubber” (phr) unit is questioned. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Elastomers)

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4004 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermal Stability and Flammability of Styrene-Butadiene Rubber-Based (SBR) Ceramifiable Composites

by Rafał Anyszka, Dariusz M. Bieliński, Zbigniew Pędzich, Przemysław Rybiński, Mateusz Imiela, Mariusz Siciński, Magdalena Zarzecka-Napierała, Tomasz Gozdek and Paweł Rutkowski

Materials 2016, 9(7), 604; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9070604 - 21 Jul 2016

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 9974

Abstract

Ceramifiable styrene-butadiene (SBR)-based composites containing low-softening-point-temperature glassy frit promoting ceramification, precipitated silica, one of four thermally stable refractory fillers (halloysite, calcined kaolin, mica or wollastonite) and a sulfur-based curing system were prepared. Kinetics of vulcanization and basic mechanical properties were analyzed and added as Supplementary Materials. Combustibility of the composites was measured by means of cone calorimetry. Their thermal properties were analyzed by means of thermogravimetry and specific heat capacity determination. Activation energy of thermal decomposition was calculated using the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method. Finally, compression strength of the composites after ceramification was measured and their micromorphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The addition of a ceramification-facilitating system resulted in the lowering of combustibility and significant improvement of the thermal stability of the composites. Moreover, the compression strength of the mineral structure formed after ceramification is considerably high. The most promising refractory fillers for SBR-based ceramifiable composites are mica and halloysite. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Elastomers)

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4842 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Photoresist Design for Elastomeric Light Tunable Photonic Devices

by Sara Nocentini, Daniele Martella, Camilla Parmeggiani and Diederik S. Wiersma

Materials 2016, 9(7), 525; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9070525 - 29 Jun 2016

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 7537

Abstract

An increasing interest in tunable photonic structures is growing within the photonic community. The usage of Liquid Crystalline Elastomer (LCE) structures in the micro-scale has been motivated by the potential to remotely control their properties. In order to design elastic photonic structures with a three-dimensional lithographic technique, an analysis of the different mixtures used in the micro-printing process is required. Previously reported LCE microstructures suffer damage and strong swelling as a limiting factor of resolution. In this article, we reported a detailed study on the writing process with four liquid crystalline photoresists, in which the percentage of crosslinker is gradually increased. The experiments reveal that exploiting the crosslinking degree is a possible means in which to obtain suspended lines with good resolution, quite good rigidity, and good elasticity, thereby preserving the possibility of deformation by light irradiation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Elastomers)

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27636 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wood Sawdust/Natural Rubber Ecocomposites Cross-Linked by Electron Beam Irradiation

by Elena Manaila, Maria Daniela Stelescu, Gabriela Craciun and Daniel Ighigeanu

Materials 2016, 9(7), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9070503 - 23 Jun 2016

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 8954

Abstract

The obtaining and characterization of some polymeric eco-composites based on wood sawdust and natural rubber is presented. The natural rubber was cross-linked using the electron beam irradiation. The irradiation doses were of 75, 150, 300 and 600 kGy and the concentrations of wood sawdust were of 10 and 20 phr, respectively. As a result of wood sawdust adding, the physical and mechanical properties such as hardness, modulus at 100% elongation and tensile strength, showed significant improvements. The presence of wood sawdust fibers has a reinforcing effect on natural rubber, similar or better than of mineral fillers. An increase in the irradiation dose leads to the increasing of cross-link density, which is reflected in the improvement of hardness, modulus at 100% elongation and tensile strength of blends. The cross-linking rates, appreciated using the Flory-Rehner equation, have increased with the amount of wood sawdust in blends and with the irradiation dose. Even if the gel fraction values have varied irregularly with the amount of wood sawdust and irradiation dose it was over 90% for all blends, except for the samples without wood sawdust irradiated with 75 kGy. The water uptake increased with increasing of fiber content and decreased with the irradiation dose. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Elastomers)

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3171 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fabrication of Wood-Rubber Composites Using Rubber Compound as a Bonding Agent Instead of Adhesives

by Dongwei Shao, Min Xu, Liping Cai and Sheldon Q. Shi

Materials 2016, 9(6), 469; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9060469 - 14 Jun 2016

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 6339

Abstract

Differing from the hot-pressing method in the manufacturing of traditional wood-rubber composites (WRCs), this study was aimed at fabricating WRCs using rubber processing to improve water resistance and mechanical properties. Three steps were used to make WRCs, namely, fiber-rubber mixing, tabletting, and the vulcanization molding process. Ninety-six WRC panels were made with wood fiber contents of 0%–50% at rotor rotational speeds of 15–45 rpm and filled coefficients of 0.55–0.75. Four regression equations, i.e., the tensile strength (Ts), elongation at break (Eb), hardness (Ha) and rebound resilience (Rr) as functions of fiber contents, rotational speed and filled coefficient, were derived and a nonlinear programming model were developed to obtain the optimum composite properties. Although the Ts, Eb and Rr of the panels were reduced, Ha was considerably increased by 17%–58% because of the wood fiber addition. Scanning electron microscope images indicated that fibers were well embedded in rubber matrix. The 24 h water absorption was only 1%–3%, which was much lower than commercial wood-based composites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Elastomers)

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