On the Mixing Status of Rubber Process Oils

Mixing as the first step of rubber manufacturing process plays an important role in quality and processability of final product.Mixing process includes several stages which are classified as:Elastomer mastication and filler dispersion, additives addition and distribution of them in the rubber matrix.Two- roll mill and internal mixer as common mixing machines are used in rubber industry in the laboratories and also processing halls.As it is said in the literature, It is proved that shear stress on amill gets higher than in an internal mixer [1,2]. Also a suitable dispersive mixing can be obtained from mixing on a two- rollmill, while by using an internal mixer, both desired dispersive and distributive mixing are accessible.It is claimed that the dispersive mixing is of great importance for mixing of fillers, whereas, it suffices to have distributive mixing to mix the additives into the matrix [2,3].Although several studies have been carried out on the mixing of fillers into the rubber matrix, the same work hasn’t beenpublished regarding the incorporation of process oils in the rubber. Also these is no specific study that shows the current tradition to use data of mill mixing in laboratory instead ofinternal mixer results is applicable for large scale works in the factory. Current study has evaluated the effect of mixing machines in the laboratory scale on the properties of compounds with different process oils