Cure Kinetics and Variable Temperature Analysis Methodologies for Solving Factory Problems

Some major quality problems observed in the rubber industry are traced to poor control of rubber compound cure characteristics, which results in high internal and external failure costs in rubber fabrication processes.  A more effective way to detect and investigate these problems is through the use of cure kinetics studies and variable temperature analysis (VTA) with the Rubber Process Analyzer (ASTM D6204 test methods).

This Paper provides a review of reaction cure kinetics and variable temperature analysis which can be used together to investigate potential rubber compound problems. Several laboratory design of experiments with selected rubber compound variations were conducted to compare the effectiveness of both cure kinetics and VTA.