Utilization of the RPA as a On-line Tester in a Rubber Mixing Department (Paper No. 36)

摘要

Hutchinson is well known in the rubber industry and has 96 production sites worldwide. In the US, Hutchinson has four production sites for the automotive sealing business and one mixing facility for North America. For years, the quality control during mixing was based on Mooney viscometer and curemeter testing. In the past, the product profiles were not as complex and a 70 Shore A durometer compound was used most of the time. Now, the parts are more complicated and use a metallic carrier and quite often two compounds with different durometer hardness values. The automotive manufacturers now have tighter cost and quality requirements. In order to achieve these goals, the production sites are under constant pressure to maintain tighter dimensions and targets and reduce scrap levels. The consistency of rheology parameters is a key factor for quality of the extrusion and molding processes. The RPA was purchased to improve the quality control in the mixing facility and to release batches based on viscoelastic and curing properties. The challenge was to design an on-line control to detect operator mistakes, mixing problems and raw material changes. After 6 months, we managed to design a new RPA production test to achieve this goal. In four minutes, this RPA test monitors viscoelasticity and curing parameters. The instrument is running around the clock and is currently testing 1400 batches per week.