New development in Processing Additives for the Modern Rubber Industry

摘要

Metal fatty acid soaps,predominantly zinc soaps,have been proven to be very effective as lubricants for almost all types of rubber compounds,helping to improve compound flow,filler(s)dispersion and releasing from metallic surfaces.Among the metallic fatty acid soaps,zinc soaps of unsaturated fatty acids have the best solubility in rubber compounds hence their better lubricating properties.However,an undesirable effect of zinc soaps of unsaturated fatty acids is its undesirable effect of prolonging the cure times e.g.Tc90 of certain rubber compounds,especially natural rubber compounds.Performance Additives has established a new series of processing additives under the trade name of ULTRA-DFR~TM(DFR for Dispersion,Flow and Release).Besides enhancing the dispersion of carbon black and mineral fillers used in modern rubber industry,improving the flow and release properties of most rubber compounds,the new product DFR900 has been tested and proven to give shorter cure times than conventional zinc soaps of unsaturated fatty acids or blends of zinc soaps with others processing additives.This paper aims to show the development for a synergistic blend of metal soaps of specific vegetable-based fatty acids to significantly enhance its flow promotion capability for better processing of rubber compounds.