Wisut Kaewsakul

Wisut Kaewsakul is an Assistant Professor at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, Chair of Elastomer Technology and Engineering. His specialization is Rubber Technology focusing on compound development for tire applications and functional natural rubbers.

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Presentation

Detection of the degradation during silica-silane-NR mixing

Mixing of silica-filled Natural Rubber compounds encounters the adverse effects of rubber degradation, and/or the reversions of silica-silane-rubber coupling and sulfide crosslinks. To detect these phenomena, compound and vulcanizate properties were analyzed and correlated with the starting molecular characteristics of the materials. Results indicate two major competitive reactions taking place: Degradation of the elastomer chains and branch formation during the mixing step.