Tire and road wear particles (TRWPs) were collected from road dust and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed to measure the content of tire wear particles (TWPs) in the TRWPs. The TGA thermograms of TRWPs showed two weight loss steps associated with polymer decomposition including weight loss after 480℃ which may be due to road wear particles. Different samples gave different TGA thermograms because the types and contents of the road wear particles attached to the TWPs should be different from each other, and each TWP might have different composition. The TGA results of the model asphalt pavement wear particles, with (volatile organics + polymers + carbon black) : ash = 33.5 : 66.5, was applied to the TRWP results, and the TWP contents of TRWPs were found to be 50-65%. The zinc oxide content in the rubber compound was negligible.

In order to develop an ultra-high-density elastomeric material for substitution of steel dynamic dampers, a new curing system and technique for high-loading of the filler were examined in this study. Mechanochemical modification of chloroprene rubber (MAH-g-CR) using an internal mixer was carried out with maleic anhydride (MAH) as a reactive monomer. The optimum amount of MAH was 10 phr and the efficient grafting of MAH on CR could be achieved at a mixing temperature of 100℃. After preparing MAH-g-CR, 50 mol% epoxidized natural rubber (ENR 50) was blended with MAHg- CR to develop a “self-curable rubber blend system” via reaction between the functional groups of the elastomeric matrices without the curing agent and additives. The content of ENR 50 was fixed at 30 wt.% throughout evaluation of the curing behavior of the MAH-g-CR/ENR blend. Tungsten powder was added to the MAH-g-CR/ENR matrix up to 60 vol.% to obtain ultra-high-density, and the maximum density obtained was 7.57 g/㎤. Stable ts2 (scorch time) and t90 (90% cure time) could be obtained even when tungsten powder was incorporated up to 60 vol.%. In addition, the tensile strength and damping properties of MAH-g-CR/ENR containing 60 vol.% of tungsten were better than those of CR containing 60 vol.% of tungsten.

The abrasion behaviors of NR/BR blend vulcanizates were investigated using NR/BR = 100/0, 80/20, and 60/40 compounds. The abrasion test was performed using a laboratory abrasion tester (LAT) at slip angles of 1° and 7°. The size distributions of the wear particles and the abrasion rates were examined according to the rubber compositions and slip angles. The most abundant wear particles at the slip angle of 1° were sizes above 1,000 μm, irrespective of the rubber composition. The most abundant wear particles at 7° slip angle had sizes in the range of 212-500 μm, except for the NR = 100 sample. The wear particle size distribution shifted to a smaller size as the slip angle and BR content increased. The abrasion rate at 7° was much larger than that at 1° slip angle. Furthermore, the abrasion rate was notably increased by adding BR to NR.

There is an increasing demand for the rolling resistance reduction in truck bus radial (TBR) tires in the tire industry. In TBR tires, natural rubber is used as a base polymer to prevent wear and satisfy required physical properties (cut and chip). A binary filler system (silica and carbon black) is used to balance the durability of the tire and rolling resistance performance. In this study, natural rubber (NR) compounds applied with a binary filler system were manufactured at different cure temperatures for vulcanizate structure analysis. The vulcanizate structures were categorized into carbon black bound rubber, silica silane rubber network, and chemical crosslink density by sulfur. Regardless of the cure temperature, the crosslink density per unit content of carbon black had a greater effect on the properties than silica due to affinity with NR. The relationship analysis between the mechanical, viscoelastic properties with vulcanizate structure could be a guideline for manufacturing practical TBR compounds.

The vulcanizate structure of silica-filled compounds is affected by the filler-rubber interaction (FRI) due to the silica-rubber coupling reaction and the chemical crosslink density (CCD) of the matrix rubber. In this study, the vulcanizate structure changes of silica-filled compounds according to the silane and sulfur variation were quantitatively analyzed using the Flory-Rehner and Kraus equations. In efficiency vulcanization (EV) conditions with low sulfur content, FRI increased when the bis-[3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]tetrasulfide (TESPT) content increased, and the CCD clearly decreased. By contrast, in semi-EV conditions with high sulfur content, as TESPT content increased, the FRI increased the same way EV conditions, but the CCD was unchanged. Based on these results, it was confirmed that FRI of the silica-filled compounds increased as TESPT content increased, but CCD decreased or retained similar values according to the vulcanization system, indicating that the formation reaction of FRI was preferred over CCD.