Thermal aging and automotive oil effects on the performance of electron beam irradiated styrene butadiene rubber/waste and microwave devulcanized rubber blends

Replacement of virgin polymer with its waste become one of the special technique that capture the efforts of many researchers and industrialists alike. In this context, this work discussed the partial replacement of waste tire rubber (WR) and microwave devulcanized rubber (DWR) at different ratios on the properties of virgin styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) as one of the most essential components of synthetic rubber in the tire production. Fixed percent of tetramethylthiuram disulfide and spindle oil were added at the first, then the WR mixture was exposed to different microwave times. Microwave devulcanization value at time 6 min gave the highest devulcanization percent. The prepared blends were exposed in an electron beam accelerator (EB) at 50 and 100 kGy. FTIR, different mechanical parameters, thermal stability (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy of the fabricated specimens have been explained. Effect of automotive oil and thermal aging at different temperature, 70oC and 100oC on the tensile strength and elongation at break (E%) of the unirradiated and irradiated prepared blends have been estimated. Mechanical measurements of all examined specimens after thermal aging and oil immersion were least affected. Moreover, these factors before and after oil dipping and thermal aging revealed that unirradiated and irradiated SBR/DWR blends have superior properties than SBR/WR. Graphical Abstract