Abstract
Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) with low fabrication cost and good durability has been usually applied to shoe midsole as cross-linked foam material. However, in this manufacturing process, considerable waste materials such as powder after buffing have been also produced. Waste EVA foam could not be reused as plastic material or recycle plastic fuel (RPF) because of cross-linked and containing metallic compound. The efficient reusing method of waste EVA form is required. To achieve this objective, it is investigated that powdered EVA is mixed into rubber composite as light-weight filler. As a result, EVA powder has excellent reinforcing effect for low modulus rubber composite. On the other hand, high modulus rubber composite with EVA powder decreases the tensile strength. In this study, in order to establish the application method of EVA powder, the mechanical properties of rubber composite with EVA powder are precisely investigated. Based on the above results, the reinforcement mechanism of not only filler but also EVA powder is comprehensively discussed.
