Tire shred processors use various mechanical means to reduce the waste stream of tires to components including rubber and steel. There is a stockpile of shredded rubber material in many states that is currently marketed mainly for use as Tire Derived Fuel (TDF). Civil engineering applications such as light landfill cover, and potentially landfill drainage layers are also attractive applications for shredded rubber material. Local environmental protection agencies and state public health officials have been reluctant, however, in some regions to allow recycled rubber to be used in civil engineering applications. An absence of data concerning long-term effects is often cited as justification for these bans. We summarized recent laboratory investigations conducted to quantify possible leachates from various recycled tire compounds. Extension of these results to reported field tests detailing the impact of recycled rubber on air, soil and water quality is also considered, as well as biological and toxicity issues. Finally, we identify areas where additional research is required and suggest approaches supporting “Better Use Determinations” for use of recycled tire rubber in these applications.

A study has been conducted to investigate the relationship between binder molecular structure and the mechanical/rheological properties of solid propellants. Beginning with the mechanical property requirements dictated by the motor grain operating conditions as well as rheological constraints imposed by available processing technology, the approach taken was to work backwards to obtain the ideal molecular structure of a solid propellant binder. Structural/processing requirements were determined from the demands of three typical rocket motor applications: space transfer, launch vehicle/ballistic missile, and tactical air‐to‐air. Three general formulation approaches to meet the demands of these applications were considered. These include traditional composite and nitrate ester plasticized formulation approaches, in addition to a hypothetical all‐binder propellant. For each of these three formulation approaches, a variety of polymer molecular characteristics were defined in terms of molecular weight, crosslink density, solubility parameter, chain stiffness, monomeric friction coefficient, volume fraction filler, and volume fraction plasticizer. Characterization data for ten polymeric binder systems are reported to show how their molecular architecture influences the resulting propellant properties.

The simulation of rubber viscoelasticity with the tube reptation model for topological interactions is investigated for large dynamic strains. The chemically crosslinked (CC) system of molecules acts as a constraint box per unit volume for the physically constrained (PC) system and carries the PC system during the deformation process. A stick—slip model is used to simulate the interaction between the CC and PC systems Stretch ratios describe the history of the PC system's energy. Rubber energy density functions for both the CC and time dependent PC systems are shown to model large strain viscoelastic deformations. In this approach the energy is split into two terms. The long term energy function for the CC molecules represents one part and a time dependent energy function for the PC molecules comprises the second part. The PC systems' stretches then appear as internal variables in the expression of the total energy. The relaxation of the PC molecules during a general deformation is determined by the history of the CC system's strain state and the box (tube) stick—slip relaxation equation(s). Examples are presented in which step-strain relaxation test data and strain rate data are simulated for large deformations of a rubber compound with differing short and long term energy functions.

1. The small-deformation-viscoelastic response of elastomers containing nonreinforcing filler has been investigated. Nonlinear viscoelastic behavior was observed as a pronounced strain-amplitude dependence. The degree of this dependence was quantified using a power-law representation as a single nonlinear parameter, m. 2. The magnitude of m was a function of formulation variables. It was found that m increased with the volume fraction and particle size of filler material, as well as the volume fraction of plasticizer. Reduced values of m were observed in the presence of bonding agent and with greater degrees of apparent crosslinking. The latter was controlled in this study through imbalanced urethane cures. 3. Nonlinear behavior of elastomers containing nonreinforcing filler has been compared and contrasted with the data base for carbon-black-reinforced elastomers. The major difference is in the effect of the surface area of filler particles. Nonlinear response in black-filled rubbers increases with surface area, while the opposite is reported in this study. Additionally, the relationship between viscoelastic dissipation and the magnitude of nonlinear response, well established for black-filled rubbers, was not observed. These results indicate that the response of elastomers containing nonreinforcing filler, although nearly identical in appearance to that seen with reinforcing filler, is not driven by the same mechanism. 4. A binder/filler interaction model is proposed for materials containing nonreinforcing filler. This model is based on the ideal adhesive strength of the binder/filler interface. In this model, greater attraction between polymer and particle surfaces reduces molecular slippage during deformation, leading to a decreased dependence of the modulus on strain amplitude, or decreased nonlinearity. It is shown that the model provides reasonable predictions for the observed phenomena.

1. Frequency distributions of stick-slip tear arrest and initiation energies have different standard deviations; initiation values show greater variance. Tear arrest frequency distributions are symmetrical and have been described by a normal distribution. The tear-initiation distribution is skewed and has been modeled using both the extreme value and Weibull distributions. As a result, it is concluded that two separate mechanisms are responsible for the creation of the force minima and maxima observed in stick-slip tearing. Consequently, data reduction methods which average these values to estimate tear energy are inappropriate. 2. The direction of skewness of the tear-initiation energies indicates a distribution of the largest extreme. This has been contrasted with constant-rate tensile-rupture data which are distributed according to the smallest extreme. As a result, it is concluded that the process responsible for tear initiation is not a weakest link mechanism, but, rather, depends on a process which structurally inhibits tear propagation. A mechanism of anisotropic tear-tip reinforcement caused by large regional deformation has been discussed as a possible explanation. 3. Tear energies calculated from tear-initiation forces have been shown to be dependent upon the energy stored in simple tensile extension and the volume of material available to be extended. This type of behavior shows that the tear-initiation energy is perhaps a reasonable indicator of strength but does not meet the criterion for an inherent material property. Tear-arrest values have been shown to be independent of these features and are considered unbiased estimators of inherent material tear energies. 4. It has been shown that for experimental purposes, stick-slip tearing can be eliminated and tear-tip diameter can be held constant using a constrained trouser-tear test. This is in agreement with earlier work by Gent and Henry. It has also been shown that the constrained tear energy thus measured is an inherent feature of stick-slip tearing results, requiring only additional data reduction to extract. Consequently, the constrained tear energy can be estimated from stick-slip tearing, and conversely, the magnitude of stick-slip tearing is predictable from a constrained tear energy and simple tensile extension data.