The Effect of Polyurethane Glycolysate on the Structure and Properties of Natural Rubber/Carbon Black Composites

In this work the use of polyurethane chemical recycling product (i.e. glycolysis of polyurethane waste realized with the mass excess of polymer) as a plasticizer for natural rubber-based composites was proposed. The effect of plasticizer type (napthenic oil and polyurethane foam glycolysate) and amount (2, 4, 6 or 8 parts per 100 parts of natural rubber) on the processing properties of rubber mixtures and chemical structure, swelling, mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of natural rubber/carbon black composites was investigated. The effect of applied plasticizer was studied in the context of accelerated thermal aging (thermo-oxidative aging) which was applied for the prepared natural rubber-based composites. The obtained results confirm that the polyurethane foam glycolysate can be successfully used as a plasticizer for the preparation of natural rubber composites. Moreover, it was found that glycolysate acts as a vulcanization accelerator and reduces decreasing of mechanical properties during the accelerated thermal aging.