Rubber Granulation - positive effect on abrasion resistance? 1

[GeraS]

Granulation of rubber bales is claimed to have benefits in reducing mixing cycles in batch mixing (internal mixers), improve quality of mixing, etc. Would it be appropriate to say that as mixing quality is improved so is abrasion resistance, for example of a tyre? A lot has been said about effect of mixing quality on wear performance of a tyre so if mixing is aided by introducing rubber granulates instead of rubber bales, surely wear is improved. Has anyone actually achieved better abrasion results by using this process? or would it actually be detrimental?
Many thanks.
Gerardo

 

[GrahamBennett]

Gerado,

if you granulate the bales you will need to keep the granules separate from each other by using some form of antitack (talc, precipitated whiting, etc), which will reduce the physical properties including wear resistance.

Pre-heating the bales to around 40°C will give better carbon black dispersion in the mixer without the need to chop the bales into smaller pieces and contaminate with antitack. This alone will give better wear resistance.