The steady growth of the rubber industry requires attention regarding the waste management and the methods applied in recycling and in the reclaiming processes.
The ok in this thesis responds to the demand for an efficient recycle method for EPDM rubber waste. A solvent free chemical activation method to recycle EPDM rubber waste which provides high-quality recycled products, despite of the high amount of recycled particles used as a substitute of the raw material, was developed. The process needed to be both environmentally sustainable and applicable on an industrial scale without requiring special equipment. The final aim of this project was to use the activated particles in the production of seals and sealing systems on an industrial scale.
In order to achieve this, the recycling of EPDM rubber waste particles by means of chemical activation using low molecular weight polymers (liquid polymers) was investigated. These liquid polymers are highly compatible with the waste rubber particles from the EPDM rubber and also suitable for sulphur vulcanisation. In comparison with other methods used for recycling of rubber and when considering environmental and economic aspects, chemical activation at the surface particle using low molecular weight polymers offers great recycling potential. In order to demonstrate the potential of the activated particles as a substitute for the raw material, aspects were investigated including:
(1) characterization of the EPDM rubber waste particles;
(2) optimization of the ratio between the waste rubber particles and the low molecular weight polymers;
(3) investigation of the influence of various amounts of curing system;
(4) study of the effect of the diene and ethylene percentage contained by the low molecular weight polymer used for activation of the particles;
(5) investigation of the influence of the amount of activated particles used as substitute of the raw material;
(6) study of the type of curing system used and
(7) application of the process on an industrial scale.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uni-osnabrueck.de/oai:repositorium.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de:urn:nbn:de:gbv:700-2015112413681 |
| Date | 24 November 2015 |
| Creators | Lepadatu, Ana-Maria |
| Contributors | Prof. Dr. Uwe Beginn, Prof. Dr. Carmen Simona Asaftei |
| Source Sets | Universität Osnabrück |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:doctoralThesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/zip |
| Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0024 seconds