Development of bus body rubber profiles with additives from renewable sources: Part I – Additives characterization and processing and cure properties of elastomeric compositions

The goal of this work was to characterize additives from renewable sources aiming replace the components that are traditionally used by the rubber industry in a formulation with terpolymer of ethylene–propylene–diene (EPDM). Soybean oil (MD600®) was used as a plasticizer. The vulcanization activator (MDECR®) was a sub-product from cellulosic ethanol production, while the loading filler (MDCO®) was obtained from cereals. Firstly, the physical, chemical and thermal properties of these additives were investigated. Thus, a standard composition used for bus body rubber profiles and compositions containing varying proportions of these additives were prepared. The acceleration system was added in a laboratory two-roll mill after the elastomeric compositions were processed in a torque rheometer. The elastomeric compositions were characterized by their cure properties, Mooney viscosities, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The addition of these additives led to a decrease in the viscosity, work, energy and Mooney viscosity of each composition, thus improving its processability. The curing characteristics of elastomeric compositions were affected by the addition of MD600® and MDECR®, leading to lower vulcanization time, while the cure properties were not affected by the addition of MDCO®.