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All the chemicals have been developed using our own technical support and scaled up using pilot plants. We are continuously engaged in upgrading the quality of the product and all of our most valued customers are happy with our efforts as they are getting better quality material at very reasonable rates.

We are also seeking the help of technical hands from outside to do various studies to constantly upgrade the products and implementing them in our regular production. A report of such a study is given below that makes us proud to have achieved this goal in making a particular grade of Zinc Oxide at a very reasonable rate that can replace the use of the most expensive white seal Zinc Oxide available in the market today. 

Accelerated Sulphur systems for Diene rubbers consist of Sulphur, Accelerator(s) and an Activator as the curative. The activator commonly comprise of a metal oxide (usually Zinc Oxide) and a fatty acid (usually Stearic Acid).

Zinc Oxide, commonly known as 'WHITE SEAL', is very expensive due to the high Zinc metal price and manufacturing cost. Since Zinc Oxide is the best to use with Stearic Acid, for the cost reduction, a cheaper manufacturing process was the only solution in front of us. At last we succeeded in finding out a new one, which is even though needs very good attention on various parameters. This has helped us in reducing the unit price of Zinc Oxide in a big way and thus passing on the entire benefit to our most valued customers. Our product is popularly known as 'ULTRA ZINC' in the market and well accepted by a very large number of customers in the field of manufacturing tread rubber, tyre flaps, hawai sheets, microcellular sheets, molded rubber goods etc. 

In this study white seal Zinc Oxide is replaced by the more economic Ultra Zinc Oxide and the effect of substitution on the curing behavior of Natural Rubber compounds and their vulcanizate properties are reported.

A

B

C

D

E

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The compounds were prepared on a laboratory mixing mill and the cure curves were taken on a Goettfert elastograph model 67,85 at 150°C. The compounds were then vulcanized up to their optimum cure times on an electrically heated laboratory hydraulic press at 150°C. Dumb-bell samples for tensile tests were punched out along the mill grain direction from the vulcanized sheets of 15 x 15 x 0.2 cm size.

Tensile properties of the vulcanizates were determined at 25°C on a Zwick universal testing machine model 1445 at a cross-head speed of 500 mm/minute. The percentage increase in weight at equilibrium swelling of the vulcanizates was determined by keeping vulcanizate sample weighing 0.4 - 0.5 gram in excess of benzene. The ageing resistance of the valcanizates was determined by keeping them in an air oven at 100°C for 48 hours and then measuring the retention in tensile properties.

The cure characteristics of the compounds taken from the cure curves are shown in Table 1. The curing behavior of the compounds is found to be similar. This indicates that the activation of Ultra zinc Oxide/ Stearic Acid combination is comparable to that of the White Seal zinc oxide / Stearic Acid combination. While the optimum cure times and scorch times of the compounds are similar, the maximum torque increases marginally with increase in the amount of Ultra Zinc Oxide. This suggests that the crosslink density of the matrix increases with increase in the amount of Ultra Zinc Oxide. The maximum torque of the compound with 5 phr Ultra Zinc Oxide + 2 phr Stearic Acid combination (Compound C) is slightly higher than that of the compound with 5 phr White Seal Zinc Oxide + 2 phr Stearic Acid combination (compound A). This suggests that White Seal Zinc Oxide could be safely substituted by Ultra Zinc Oxide in equal amounts.

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The vulcanizates A (5 phr White Seal Zinc oxide +2 phr Stearic Acid) and C ( 5 phr Ultra Zinc Oxide + 2 phr Stearic Acid) show comparable tensile properties.

This suggests that the network structures of these vulcanizates are similar. Vulcanizate C shows a higher modulus which is obviously due to a higher cross link density. Vulcanizate B shows the maximum tensile strength and elongation at break but the least modulus. This might be due to a slightly lower degree or cross linking with a higher percentage of polysulphidic cross links compared to the other vulcanizates. Higher loadings of Ultra Zinc Oxide (vulcanizates D & E) give slightly improved modulus but lower tensile strength and elongation at break. This shows that the crosslink density marginally increases with increase in the amount of Ultra Zinc Oxide with a corresponding decrease in the percentage of polysulphidic cross links obviously due to the improved activity. The above findings are confirmed by the swelling resistance of the vulcanizates. The ageing resistance of the vulcanizates C,D & E is found to be superior to that of A. This further shows that these vulcanizates have more stable network structures with a higher percentage of monosulphidic cross links. The slightly lower ageing resistance displayed by vulcanizate B further points towards a higher percentage of polysulphidic cross links which may be due to a slightly lower activity.

The study shows that Ultra Zinc Oxide could be used as an efficient activator together with Stearic Acid in place of White Seal Zinc Oxide and Stearic Acid. The loading of Ultra Zinc Oxide required is same as that of White Seal Zinc Oxide.