Pathompong Pangamol.. Development of petroleum industry byproduct sulfur to be used in rubber vulcanization. Doctoral Degree(Polymer Science and Technology). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2014.
Development of petroleum industry byproduct sulfur to be used in rubber vulcanization
Abstract:
In this research, the chemical structure of petroleum-based sulfur received from IRPC Plc. Co., Ltd. was investigated using various characterization techniques. Moreover, efficiency of petroleum-based sulfur as vulcanizing agent in 3 types of rubber matrices (i.e., NR, SBR, and NBR) was examined and compared with commercial natural-based sulfur and commercial petroleum-based sulfur coming from various manufacturers. Finally, in order to add value to the IRPC petroleum-based sulfur, a masterbatch of sulfur with TDAE oil as carrier was developed and then determined for its properties after being used in different rubber matrices. Enhancement in sulfur dispersion was focused and compared with uncoated petroleum-based sulfur. The results measured from various techniques such as FT-IR, TGA, DSC, XRD, XRF, and XANES revealed that the chemical structure of petroleum-based sulfur possesses similarity to that of commercial natural-based sulfur with rhombic structure. Furthermore, the sulfur content of the petroleum-based sulfur was analogous compared with that of the commercial natural-based sulfur. The apparent quantity was approximately 97% as determined by SEM-EDX technique. As a vulcanizing agent in different rubbers, the processability, mechanical properties, and dynamic properties of rubbers incorporated with the petroleum-based sulfur remained comparable to those incorporated with both the commercial natural-based and petroleum-based sulfurs. As a result, the petroleum-based sulfur received from IRPC Plc. Co., Ltd. possessed potential utilization as the vulcanizing agent in rubber as substitution for the commercial natural-based sulfurs. Finally, the TDAE oil was used to coat the petroleum-based sulfur as dispersing agent. The ratio of sulfur:oil was kept constant at 80:20 %wt. The obtained results revealed the enhancement in dispersion of sulfur in rubber matrices. The crosslink density was increased leading to improvement in mechanical properties of vulcanizates whereas the processability remained unchanged. Therefore, development of TDAE oil-coated petroleum-based sulfur as a new product for the rubber industry is possible, which would be beneficial to IRPC Plc. Co., Ltd. as manufacturer of the TDAE oil and the petroleum-based sulfur.