USE OF LIGNOCELLULOSE POWDERS AS SWELLING FILLERS FOR RUBBERS

Rubber sealing elements, which are limited in swelling in aqueous media, filling the space between the contacting surfaces, are widely used in the designs of packers in the oil and gas industry. The paper considers the use of porous lignocellulosic products as swelling fillers for rubbers with limited swelling. Lignocellulosic powder products are additives obtained by finely dispersed processing. Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose was used as a swelling polymer. Polycell 9B and lignocellulose powder from non-woody herbaceous plants. Some used cotton, flax or alfalfa. The mixing of basic rubber compound with swelling polymer was carried out in a closed rubber mixer of «Brabender» Company W50 E. Physicists conducted mechanical tests. The degree of swelling in various aqueous media was determined. The aim of the study is to obtain high-strength swelling rubbers based on powdered ligocellulose from herbaceous plants and to study their effect on the physical complex and mechanical properties of swelling rubbers based on nitrile rubber grade BNKS-28. It was found that the introduction of powdered lignocellulose from flax into the rubber composition allows maintaining the conditional tensile strength of rubber at the sample level without swelling filler, while the introduction of an industrial product of carboxylated cellulose sodium carboxymethylcellulose leads to a significant decrease in the strength of rubber. It is shown that the introduction of powdered lignocellulose from alfalfa makes it possible to increase the degree of swelling of rubbers in KOH solution compared with rubber filled with powdered lignocellulose from cotton and powdered lignocellulose from flax.