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Abstract:
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Mass production of tires as well as their storage or elimination is
a real environmental problem. Various methods for recycling of tires are currently
used, such as mechanical grinding, which separates vulcanized rubber, steel, and
fibers from tires. Rubber is, then, used in several industrial applications such as
flooring, insulations, and footwear. This paper focuses on a new application for
old used tires (ground tire rubber, GTR). Tire dust and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) have been mixed, and the maximum accepted concentration of
GTR can be attained while keeping dielectric, thermal, and mechanical properties
within acceptable limits, and therefore their possible industrial application will be
in manufacturing of, for example, dielectrics for capacitors, low-voltage electric
fences or electrical cable pipes, and trays. Actually, tire dust with particle sizes
<700 μm has been classified into three different groups depending on the particle
sizes (p < 200, 200< p < 500, and p > 500 μm). Afterward, ABS has been mixed
with different concentrations of GTR, i.e., 5%, 10%, 20%, 50% and 70%, to
establish its properties through thermal, mechanical, and dielectric tests. Finally,
the fracture surfaces of the composite samples have been evaluated by using
scanning electron microscopy. |
