Effect of Ground Tyre Rubber Devulcanisates on the Properties of a Passenger Car Tyre Tread Formulation

Extensive research on recycling processes, in particular for waste tyre material, is necessary due to increasing raw material costs, diminishing resources and growing awareness of environmental issues. One of the preferred methods is devulcanisation, in which only sulphur cross-links are broken, while the polymer chains remain intact. In this study, optimised processing conditions for the devulcanisation of whole passenger car tyres using diphenyldisulphide (DPDS) as a devulcanisation aid were applied. The devulcanised ground tyre rubber (D-GTR) obtained from the process was blended on top of the original tyre tread formulation at different concentrations. The cure characteristics and mechanical properties of the re-vulcanised blends are evaluated in comparison to the original compound. The results so far indicate that the addition of D-GTR influences the properties of the blend, but to a lesser extent than the commercially used powder or reclaim types do, for which loadings less than 5% can be applied. The main reason for the influence of D-GTR on the rubber properties is inhomogeneities in the D-GTR/virgin rubber blend