Effect of Process Parameters of Mixing on Physicomechanical and Rheological Properties of Rubber Compound

In this research work with the aid of Tagouchi experimental design and rawing of interaction curves with Minitab software, the best rotor speed and dump temperature of mixing for physico-mechanical and rheological properties of the rubber compound with three mixing steps was obtained. Moreover by plotting the mean curves in Excel worksheet, the dependency of properties on rotor speed, dump temperature and mixing energy were analyzed. The Results showed that dispersion was improved with increasing rotor speed and dump temperature at the lower total time. The best dispersion occurred at the highest dump temperature and the rotor speed in the second stage. We attributed better dispersion to lower filler-filler interaction, because of the mixing process performed at higher temperatures when we used higher rotor speeds at higher dump temperatures. Effect of rotor speed and dump temperature on tension properties were negligible. However, the higher dump temperature had negative effect on tear resistance, whereas, the high rotor speed had positive effect. The same results were observed for die swell while the governed mechanism on these properties was studied as well.