A novel method for the optimization of sulfur cure systems for rubber using software

The goal of this study was to find a software approach that would make the optimization of the vulcanization system more efficient. For this purpose, a natural rubber (NR) was mixed with different amounts of elemental sulfur at ambient temperature to produce rubber compounds. Zinc oxide was treated with an organic accelerator to produce a convenient single material component to use as additive. The effect of an increasing loading of the surface modified zinc oxide on the cure properties of the sulfur-filled rubber compounds was subsequently measured at a high temperature in a curemeter. Using a JavaScript program, the cure test results were processed to develop a highly efficient method for optimizing sulfur cure systems for rubber. All the essential information such as scorch and optimum cure times, rate of cure, crosslink density changes in the rubber, and chemical curatives requirement at a given loading of sulfur were subsequently provided for the user. This method removes the need to mix and test the raw rubber with chemical curatives repeatedly to find a compound with ideal cure properties for industrial applications.