Vulcanized rubbers have three-dimensional chemical networks, and as a result they do not melt or dissolve. The presence of these networks creates a tremendous problem at the end of a product's life (i.e., recycling). Recently, R. J. Farris et al. have rediscovered a technique coined "high-pressure hightemperature sintering" (HPHTS) that fuses/sinters 100% vulcanized rubber powder into a solid mass recovering approximately 35-40% of the original mechanical properties. A method of enhancing the mechanical properties of sintered natural rubber powder by incorporating various organic compounds will be discussed in this paper. Additives of different chemical structures such as dienophiles (maleic acid and maleic anhydride), dipolarophiles (phthalimide), and organic acids (benzoic acid, salicyclic acid, and others) are employed. Attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and electron ionization mass spectrometry (EIMS) are used to investigate the mechanisms of sintering and the underlying factors behind the enhancement of the properties that is seen with incorporation of these additives.

High-pressure high-temperature sintering (HPHTS) is a novel recycling technique that makes it possible to recycle vulcanized rubber powders made from waste rubber (namely scrap tires) through only the application of heat and pressure. A brief look into the mechanism of sintering will be presented along with information about the influence of molding variables, such as time, temperature, pressure and rubber particle size on the mechanical properties of the produced parts. One of the most interesting observations is that powders of every crosslinked elastomer attempted sintered together via this technique, including silicone rubber (SI), sulfur cured [natural rubber (NR), ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)], peroxide cured butadiene rubber (BR), and fluoroelastomers (FKM). Early work on sintered rubber made from commercially available rubber powder had a modulus of 1 to 2 MPa, strength of 4 to 7 MPa and an elongation at break of 150–250%. Recently, in-house ground samples of SBR have had sintered values over 9.5 MPa strength and 275% elongation, or greater than 60% retention of the original properties. Many of these mechanical properties are comparable with industrially manufactured rubbers, and it is believed that recycled rubbers produced via HPHTS offer the potential to replace virgin rubber in numerous applications.

Seeking a solution to the problem of disposing scrap tires, we attempted to depolymerize or degrade vulcanized rubber scrap such that the resulting pseudo-liquid material could be used as an extender/plasticizer in virgin rubber compounds. As degraded natural rubber (DNR) and degraded styrene-butadiene rubber (DSBR) are polymeric in nature (confirmed from gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results), they can be unique substitutes for typical rubber plasticizers (oil). DNR-loaded samples have shown better mechanical property retention after aging and a lower extractable content in acetone than the respective oil-plasticized samples. Solvent swelling in toluene and 100% modulus values indicate that DNR-added rubber vulcanizates undergo a phase adhesion between the rubber matrix and the degraded polymer, as well as incurring extra reinforcement due to particulate carbon black present in the degraded rubber. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:1338 -1350, 2004

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