• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.55 no.4
• /
• pp.257-262
• /
• 2020

Vehicle wiper blades are typically treated with chlorine to lower their friction coefficient with the windshield surface. In this study, a chlorinated, natural rubber (NR) vehicle wiper blade was characterized using a pyrolytic technique. Unchlorinated and chlorinated wiper blades were pyrolyzed and the pyrolysis products were analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Besides isoprene and dipentene, the other principal pyrolysis products such as 1,5,8-p-menthatriene (MTT) and p,α-dimethylstyrene (DMS) were observed. The MTT and DMS ratios did not vary for the chlorinated nor unchlorinated samples when the entire rubber lip of the wiper blade was pyrolyzed. However, when only the lip surface of the wiper blade rubber was pyrolyzed (via scratching with a knife) the relative ratios of the chlorinated sample were much greater than those of the unchlorinated sample. As MTT is produced from the conjugated backbone of chlorinated NR that forms through HCl elimination during initial pyrolysis, and DMS is generated by the dehydrogenation of MTT, these two products could be used as markers for detecting chlorinated NR.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.211-216
• /
• 1981

A series of conveyer rubber belts has been made by blending natural rubber(NR), styrene butadiene rubber(SBR), chloroprene rubber(CR) and additives on nylon cords, and their respective flammability has been investigated. It has been observed that: 1. By adding an antiflame agent to the belt, in addition to 70% chlorinated paraffine and antimony oxide($Sb_{2}O_{3}$), the inflammability is improved remarkably to O - 2 seconds due to the synergistic effect, while a sample without antiflame B fails to pass the KS M 6678 test. 2. Physical properties, such as tensile strength, elongation at break and adhesion strength, of the sample belts have been studies by varying ratios of NR/CR from 20 to 100, and it has been observed that the higher ratios have the better physical properties.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.55 no.3
• /
• pp.229-234
• /
• 2020

Automobile wiper blades are generally treated with chlorine to lower their friction coefficient with the windshield surface. This treatment could affect the crosslink density measurement of rubber vulcanizates, a material used in windshield wipers, which would consequently alter its chemical and physical properties. Therefore, this study evaluated the influence of chlorination on crosslink density measurements of natural rubber (NR) vulcanizates using a vehicle wiper blade. A method for determining the degree of chlorination was developed where the interaction parameter between the rubber and the swelling solvent was corrected. A decrease in the rubber sample swelling ratio was observed upon chlorination, and the chlorination penetrated less than 1% of the sample thickness. The chlorinated NR was assumed to be chloroprene rubber (CR), which was used to correct the interaction parameter. The results showed the CR contributed approximately 7% to the parameter.