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Rubber Compounding for Durability

Course description
Time: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Location: 240 South Forge Street, Akron, Ohio 44325
Classroom 217 (Located inside the National Polymer Innovation Center)
Cost: $860.00 USD
CEU's: 0.8
Instructor: Dr. Chris Robertson

Course Overview

Are you challenged to make your rubber products last longer? Rubber compounds are complex mixtures of polymers, reinforcing fillers, oils / plasticizers, curatives, stabilizers, and other additives that are combined in relatively quick mixing processes. Durability is impacted by all these ingredients, their interactions, and the quality of the mixing. This one-day course will teach compounding strategies to improve the strength and lifetime of rubber components. This specialized training will benefit materials engineers, compounders, rubber chemists, product development engineers, R&D scientists, and rubber lab managers at manufacturers of tires and rubber parts and companies that supply raw materials. The objectives of the course are:

  • Understand how rubber fatigue and failure characteristics are influenced by materials selection and compound structural features
  • Learn compounding strategies to improve strength and fatigue lifetime
  • Know the right testing methods to characterize rubber durability efficiently in the lab

RubberCompoundingforDurability-Diagram

Instructor Biography:

robertsonDr. Chris Robertson is an international authority on polymer science and rubber compounding for performance. Chris holds the role of Sales Director and Materials Expert at Endurica LLC, which is focused on elastomer durability software and testing solutions. He brings over 15 years of materials research and product development experience at tire and rubber companies and raw materials suppliers. After receiving his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1999 in the polymer science area, Chris spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher in polymer physics at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory before starting his industrial R&D career. Chris is co-inventor of 32 patents and co-author of 55 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He received the 2008 Sparks-Thomas Award from the American Chemical Society Rubber Division, and he serves as Associate Editor of Rubber Chemistry & Technology.

Click to view Course Outline

  • What types of failure are manifested in your products, and what is durability worth to you?
  • Compound stiffness and deformation control mode in rubber applications
  • Overview of durability testing methods in the rubber laboratory
  • Basics of rubber formulations and mixing approaches
  • Polymer selection: chemical stability, strain-induced crystallization, molecular mobility, polymer blends
  • Effects of type, density, and distribution of crosslinks
  • Filler type, dispersion, and reinforcement topics, including processing effects and crack precursors
  • The fatigue threshold and how to increase through compounding
  • Mechanisms of aging / degradation and formulation approaches for suppressing
  • Hysteresis: Help or hindrance?
  • Simulation for materials selection and durability prediction

*** Please note, each row and course# listed below is a separate, complete course. ***

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions or need more information about this course, please contact:

Penelope Pinkston
330-972-8303
penelo1@uakron.edu

TO REGISTER

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Registration information: Registration shall remain open until posted as closed on the course listing on this site.

Registrations must be guaranteed by check, a purchase order number or a credit card, otherwise the registration will not be processed. Checks should be made payable to "The Akron Polymer Technology Services Training Center" and must include a copy of your completed registration form. Course fees are due before attending.

All registrations—whether by online, phone, fax or mail—will be confirmed and considered binding and subject to all cancellation policies. If you do not receive a confirmation prior to the class, please call The Akron Polymer Technology Services Training Center to verify your registration.

Course fee includes classroom instruction, instructional materials, parking permits, continental breakfast, lunch, beverages and refreshment breaks. Travel and hotel accommodations are not included.

ENROLLMENT IS LIMITED AND ON A FIRST-COME BASIS. EARLY REGISTRATION IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!

Visit our registration webpage to view our cancellation/withdrawal policy.