History of mold release agent is as old as molding of rubber itself It was usually necessary to provide lubrication on the surface of mold to facilitate easy stripping of rubber components from the mold and also to allow unrestricted flow of rubber. In general, all rubber compounds tend to stick to the curing mold surfaces. Mold release agents or mold lubricants are often used in the rubber industry to prevent the above sticking and also to facilitate removal of the rubber product from the mold. Mold release agents, normally implies that these are external agents. Truly, they are not always external chemical or products; some times they can be used internally along with the compound as well. For example, if stearic acid is used between 2-4 parts in butyl inner tube compound or in curing bladder formulation, the product release from the curing mold is faster and also it prolongs the process on mold dirtiness problem. Incidentally, stearic acid does not require functioning as co-activator in butyl rubber. Since stearic acid has got the above advantages, many metallic stearates are there in the market as claiming release agents when added in the compound.
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