Reclamation of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) with common machines (stirring machine or mixing mill) is studied in this paper. Ground SBR was processed under the conditions at high temperatures (150-175°C) by these machines to depolymerize mainly its surface.
It was recognized that the depolymerization reaction was very much influenced by the particle size of ground SBR and that fine grinding was effective. There was recognized a correlation between the tensile strength of reclaimed rubbers and their devucanized degrees. It was possible under some depolymerization conditions to reclaim ground SBR with 4 mesh by this method. The reclaimed rubbers of which the chloroform extract was about 17-20%, had a maximum value at tensile strength, and its value was about 60-70% in comparision with the value of unreclaimed rubbers. The reclaimed rubbers were largely inferior to the non-reclaimedones in dynamic properties.
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