During the third year of support, research activities were focused on comparative analysis of devulcanization of tire rubber using coaxial, barrel and grooved barrel reactors and understanding ultrasonic devulcanization of various constituents of tire rubber, including butadiene rubber (BR) and EPDM rubbers and their utilization. In addition, carbon black filled polyurethane rubber (PUR) and polyurethane (PU) foam were considered. The following tasks were undertaken: (i) ultrasonic devulcanization of tire rubber using three reactor designs; (ii) ultrasonic treatment of gum and vulcanizates of unfilled BR; (iii) ultrasonic devulcanization of carbon black (CB) filled PUR; (iv) development of continuous ultrasonic process for decrosslinking and recycling of high resilience PU foam; (v) experimental studies of the continuous ultrasonic process for in-situ compatibilization of polypropylene (PP)/EPDM blends; (v) theoretical modeling and computer simulations of the effect of polydispersity and rubber-filler interactions on degradation of rubbers under ultrasonic treatment.
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