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RHEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF UNCROSSLINKED RUBBER COMPOUNDS AND THE CHARACTERIZATION OF AN APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN ELASTOMERIC STRIP

Crowder, Matthew
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1490831132166305

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science in Polymer Engineering, University of Akron, Polymer Engineering.
Filled rubber compounds contain a blend of polymers, plasticizers, fillers, antioxidants, tackifiers, curatives and waxes. The chemical, fluid and solid properties of the rubber are affected by the types of materials included in the compound and the relative quantity of each. In the tire industry, compounds are developed possessing specific solid properties to achieve desired product performance. The following study includes an analysis of the rheological behavior of natural and synthetic rubber compounds containing carbon black and silica fillers, during an extrusion process, while heated until softened. All materials studied were thermosetting polymers, in an un-cured state. The apparatus used in the extrusion process was composed of a cold feed extruder in series with a gear pump supplying a flow channel of heated boundaries terminating with a small roller die used to form an elastomeric strip. Material properties studied during the extrusion process include the pressure required to achieve a specific flow rate, and the materials’ bulk and surface temperatures inside the flow channel and at the die exit. The goal of the study is the development of a method for predicting the process responses as a function of material properties, die geometry, and material flow rate. First, capillary rheometer experiments were conducted to characterize the materials’ viscosity and identify the constants of the power-law viscosity model for each material. Die swell measurements were made during the capillary experiments to understand the materials elasticity. Once the resistance to flow had been determined, analytical models for pressure drop and viscous heating were explored, achieving incomplete results using equations for pressure drop with power-law fluids in straight and converging tubes. For this purpose, methods developed by Flumerfelt et al. were employed for achieving analytical solutions for generalized plane Couette flow of non-Newtonian fluids. Due to limited success with analytical methods, experimental trials were designed and conducted to acquire response data to which empirical models could be fit. Empirical models were developed using a statistical software package to create a multiple linear regression analysis for each response using the independent variables known to be contributors to the pressure drop and heating of materials as identified in the analytical portion of the study. The models developed proved to be accurate in the prediction of extrudate bulk and surface temperatures and moderately accurate in predicting pressure in the flow channel.
Erol Sancaktar, PhD. (Advisor)
Sadhan Jana, PhD. (Committee Member)
Kevin Cavicchi, PhD. (Committee Chair)
97 p.
Fluid Dynamics; Polymers

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Citations

  • Crowder, M. (2017). RHEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF UNCROSSLINKED RUBBER COMPOUNDS AND THE CHARACTERIZATION OF AN APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN ELASTOMERIC STRIP [Master's thesis, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1490831132166305

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Crowder, Matthew. RHEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF UNCROSSLINKED RUBBER COMPOUNDS AND THE CHARACTERIZATION OF AN APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN ELASTOMERIC STRIP. 2017. University of Akron, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1490831132166305.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Crowder, Matthew. "RHEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF UNCROSSLINKED RUBBER COMPOUNDS AND THE CHARACTERIZATION OF AN APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN ELASTOMERIC STRIP." Master's thesis, University of Akron, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1490831132166305

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1490831132166305
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© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License RHEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF UNCROSSLINKED RUBBER COMPOUNDS AND THE CHARACTERIZATION OF AN APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN ELASTOMERIC STRIP by Matthew Crowder is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.