Rubber devulcanization in the planetary extruder – processing and structure

Abstract

Thermo-mechanical devulcanization process of ground tire rubber (GTR) in a planetary extruder was investigated. The rheological properties of reclaimed rubber (rGTR) were studied using a Mooney viscometer and a rubber processing analyzer (RPA). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to determine reclaimed rubber structure. Increasing the scale of the devulcanization process (from 0.5 to 4 kg/h) resulted in a deterioration of the processing properties, which in the case of partially devulcanized rubber can only be determined using an RPA rheometer.