Back to the origin: A spick-and-span sustainable approach for the devulcanization of ground tire rubber

A new sustainable approach for the development of value added devulcanized rubber will augment its application in tire industry and play a significant role toward the product quality, production economy and market completion. The right choice of devulcanizing agent is carried out to keep in mind that the chemical will act as superior devulcanizing agent, easily available, low cost, smoothly penetrate into the crosslinked network in presence of carrier, multifunctional activity and eco-friendly in nature. Consequently, the current research work is focused on the devulcanization of ground tire rubber (GTR) by way of a multifunctional devulcanizing agent, bis(3-triethoxysilylpropyl)tetrasulfide. The uniqueness of the chemical agent is that it will devulcanize GTR mechanochemically and subsequently the so-grown devulcanized rubber can facilitate the homogeneous silica dispersion into the revulcanized rubber compound. The degree of devulcanization and the devulcanized rubber quality is measured by the swelling experiment and Horikx theory. The experimental results clearly specified that the optimal devulcanization time is 40 min to obtain better-quality of devulcanized rubber and enhanced mechanical and thermal performance of revulcanized rubber. The homogeneous silica dispersion in the rubber matrix is further supported by the scanning electron microscopy images. Ultimately, it was established that the as-grown technology is suitable for rubber reclaiming, which provides to the advancement in the ecological sustainability.