The main objective of this research is to develop basic knowledge and to design the high capacity equipment for the new ultrasonic technology of recycling ground tire rubber (GRT). It has been discovered in the earlier research that through the application of certain levels of ultrasonic amplitudes in special devices, the three-dimensional network in reinforced and non-reinforced vulcanized elastomers can be broken down leading to devulcanization within a short period of time of the order of a few seconds. As the most desirable consequence, ultrasonically treated GRT becomes soft thereby enabling the rubber to be reprocessed, shaped, and revulcanized alone or in blends with virgin rubbers and plastics.
The study outlines a series of tasks enabling: (1) the design of new equipment for continuous ultrasonic devulcanization of GRT; (2) the identification of the effect of powerful ultrasound on structure and properties of model unfilled and carbon black filled styrene-butadiene, natural, butadiene, and EPDM rubber vulcanizates and their mixtures which are the constituents of GRT; (3) to reveal the effect of carbon black on the ultrasonically induced mechanochemical reactions in each model rubber and their mixtures; (4) to investigate the effect of ultrasonic treatment of each model rubber vulcanizates on the mechanical properties of their blends with virgin rubber upon revulcanizations; (5) to establish the optimal processing conditions enabling one to obtain the devulcanized GRT-based materials with high mechanical properties; (6) to develop the theory of rubber network degradation and to develop computer simulations of the reactors as an aid to scaling the process.
