Oils Made from Vegetable Raw Materials and their Influence on the Properties of Rubber Compounds and Vulcanizates

Abstract

Performed technical analysis of the ways to replace petroleum-based mineral oils with vegetable oils and/or with bio-oils made from non-food grade renewable feedstock, namely from hardwood tall oil generated as by-product of pulp and paper production. First a rubber compound for the summer tire tread was made from a combination of solution-based styrene-butadiene rubber and butadiene rubber with a high silica content. Application of bio-oils was observed to impact the vulcanization properties, physical and mechanical properties, and specifically Bio-oil No2 was observed to improve tg at +60 °C which has a notable correlation with rolling resistance. Next the bio-oils and vulcanizates performance in winter tread was analyzed. Here application of the bio-oils was observed to reduce the time needed to achieve 90 % vulcanization with no deterioration of the physical and mechanical properties. Bio-oil No1 delivered advanced elastic-hysteresis properties in wet grip and rolling resistance performance. Therefore replacement of conventional filler (extender) oils with bio-oils made from renewable feedstock in rubber compounds for winter and summer tire tread was proven feasible.