The influence of UV-accelerated aging process on industrial waste containing EPDM

Abstract

One of the most efficient ways to recycle elastomeric residues from industrial processes is to incorporate them into compositions. The study of these new compositions is interesting in terms of reducing cost, the consumption of raw materials, and the generation of new waste, working towards sustainable development. Thus, this research aimed to produce and characterize elastomeric blends containing one phase comprised of ethylene–propylene–diene monomer rubber (EPDM) industrial waste aged by the action of ultraviolet radiation (UV) in a UV chamber, and the other comprised of raw EPDM, containing different concentrations of residue. Therefore, the mechanical properties and the vulcanization characteristics of the blends containing different concentrations of EPDM residue—aged and un-aged—were analyzed and compared to the properties of a standard formulation (Control). The results showed that the aging of the waste for a period of 156 h did not trigger a severe degradation process. Additionally, its reuse into new compositions promoted improvements of the studied mechanical properties without compromising the vulcanization characteristics due to the higher molecular stiffness of the samples.