Combined Effects of Hot Curing Conditions and Reaction Heat on Rubber Vulcanization Efficiency and Vulcanizate Uniformity

A mathematical model of the chemical kinetics of silicone rubber Vulcanization is developed, with the thermal effects being computed using the increment method, and the hot Vulcanization process estimated with the finite element method. The results show that the reaction heat of rubber vulcanization is important for energy saving, and that a proper curing medium temperature is important when considering both vulcanization efficiency and vulcanizate uniformity. The results also indicate that increases in the forced convective heat transfer coefficient have no significant effect above a certain level. The validity of the numerical model is indirectly proven by comparison with existing data.

[1]  B. Likozar,et al.  Kinetic and heat transfer modeling of rubber blends' sulfur vulcanization with N‐t‐butylbenzothiazole‐sulfenamide and N,N‐di‐t‐butylbenzothiazole‐sulfenamide , 2007 .

[2]  Guoqun Zhao,et al.  Analysis of chemical calorific effect during reactive extrusion processes for free radical polymerization , 2007 .

[3]  Q. Zheng,et al.  Rheological characterization of room temperature vulcanized silicone sealant: Effect of filler particle size , 2008 .

[4]  W. Fan,et al.  Influence of Fe‐MMT on crosslinking and thermal degradation in silicone rubber/clay nanocomposites , 2006 .

[5]  Kang Sun,et al.  Effect of high-temperature curing on the crosslink structures and dynamic mechanical properties of gum and N330-filled natural rubber vulcanizates , 2001 .

[6]  T. K. Chaki,et al.  Mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomers based on silicone rubber and an ethylene–octene copolymer by dynamic vulcanization , 2008 .

[7]  Yue Mu,et al.  Design of silicone rubber according to requirements based on the multi-objective optimization of chemical reactions , 2004 .

[8]  G. Unnikrishnan,et al.  Cure characteristics, morphology, mechanical properties, and aging characteristics of silicone rubber/ethylene vinyl acetate blends , 2006 .

[9]  Yuxi Jia,et al.  Finite element simulation of mechanical property evolvement of silicone rubber in the hot vulcanizing process , 2004 .

[10]  Guoqun Zhao,et al.  Investigation of computer-aided engineering of silicone rubber vulcanizing (I)—vulcanization degree calculation based on temperature field analysis , 2003 .

[11]  J. Hernandez-Ortiz,et al.  Modeling the Vulcanization Reaction of Silicone Rubber , 2007 .

[12]  Sunil C. Joshi,et al.  A numerical approach to the modeling of polymer curing in fibre-reinforced composites , 1999 .

[13]  Guoqun Zhao,et al.  Investigation of computer-aided engineering of silicone rubber vulcanizing (II)—finite element simulation of unsteady vulcanization field , 2002 .

[14]  E. Haberstroh,et al.  Simulation of the Filling and Curing Phase in Injection Molding of Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) , 2002 .

[15]  Wataru Fujiwara,et al.  Study of cure process of thick solid rubber , 2008 .

[16]  Pretreatment of Liquid Silicone Rubbers to Remove Volatile Siloxanes , 2007 .

[17]  Shengyu Feng,et al.  Effect of crosslinking on the conductivity of conductive silicone rubber , 2003 .

[18]  J. Hernandez-Ortiz,et al.  A Novel Cure Reaction Model Fitting Technique Based on DSC Scans , 2005 .

[19]  C. Nah,et al.  Vulcanization kinetics of nitrile rubber/layered clay nanocomposites , 2005 .