Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

Search results for query: *

  1. George4545

    Rubber softener for tire prep.

    Thank you. That was put into words better than I ever could. The "stickiness" is just what I feel. It's actually just a more pliable surface that allows more tire into the rough surface of the road, yielding more mechanical grip, correct?
  2. George4545

    Rubber softener for tire prep.

    Or is it more that a chemical that evaporates quickly only has time to soften (and thus make sticky) the very surface of the rubber before it evaporates, while higher boiling point, more viscous, slower evaporating ones drive deeper into the rubber, creating a more "complete" softness.
  3. George4545

    Rubber softener for tire prep.

    So would you say the stickiness always comes as a side effect of the softness? Or are there some chemicals that the two could be separated, say where you could have a a hard sticky tire or vice versa.
  4. George4545

    Rubber softener for tire prep.

    Very interesting. Another quality of nmp from what I've gleaned is that it works well not only as a plasticizer, but it also provides the tire with good external bite, helping to increase the coefficient of friction in addition to softening. Do you know the reason behind this?
  5. George4545

    Rubber softener for tire prep.

    So I tried an 8 oz. 75% nmp 25% odorless mineral spirits mix and it's taking a long time (10 hours and counting) to sink in without use of heat. I would think with the relatively small chemical size of nmp compared to other commonly used solvents in tires that it would penetrate easier than it...
  6. George4545

    Rubber softener for tire prep.

    Hey all. I've been reading up on some old forums. I came across a forum where someone mentioned to use nmp as a tire softener. (N-METHYL-PYRROLIDONE). It works well but I have to apply heat to the tire so the chemical soaks into the rubber. Is there anything j can mix with nmp to help drive...
Back
Top