An investigation of the effect of low temperatures on rubber compounds

摘要

A fairly significant number of studies of cold resistance have now been published. In terms of comprehensive information given, work by Bukhina and Kurlyand and Zuev and Degteva3 should be singled out in particular. It is normally assumed that the structural changes occurring in rubber compounds exposed to low temperatures are reversible. However, reversibility does not always occur. Likewise, it must be pointed out that the changes occurring in vulcanisates with cyclic change in temperature have hardly been studied. At the same time, conditions of repeated cyclic change in temperature are characteristic of many articles and may lead to a reduction in their service life. The most important of these articles are undoubtedly pneumatic tyres. There are grounds for assuming that an important role in reducing the service life of rubber products with cyclic change in temperature is played by the emergence of microfractures due to the crystallisation and melting of moisture [1, 2].