HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPOUNDING the formulations

What information is necessary to start a development of high performance compounds?

To study a rubber compound you need to know the characteristics of a molded piece and the technical conditions under which it is used.

When we are faced with complex specifications such as those of the car industry and household appliances, the formulation of a recipe becomes a real challenge for the technician, because they will have to obtain essential information directly or indirectly for the correct study planning.

The framework for a manufactured article includes:

• Structural and organoleptic characteristics
• Mechanical stresses
• Contact with various fluids (oils-acids-solvents)
• Environmental conditions
• The evaluation of the duration in operation and the final cost.

How does tailor-made compound development begin?

First of all, it’s important to focus on the performance that the finished product will have to reach.  The work of the technologist is precisely to study a series of solutions that will give the requested characteristics to mixing, but that must also have a more than satisfactory degree of workability and transformation, as no one needs a compound that perfectly responds to specifications but is impossible to mold.

Therefore, ingredients must be chosen that, in harmony with the characteristics of the finished product, can satisfy all the needs of workability, such as viscosity, scorching, speed of connection, detachment of the mold and much more.

A high performance item needs an extensive fine-tuning phase, which, I repeat, goes through:

• The analysis of the characteristics of the finished product
• Production needs
• Transformation needs

how do you choose the most suitable?

The choice of the elastomer is therefore only the starting point for development for the technologist, and since no elastomer encompasses the optimum of all characteristics, it will be necessary to make the right choice each time to satisfy the requested specifications.