Ground Tire Rubber Recycling in Applications as Insulators in Polymeric Compounds, According to Spanish UNE Standards

Abstract

In the present research, we investigated the conceivable outcomes of using ground tire rubber (GTR) particle polymeric blends. Special methods of restoring tires that are no longer in use include GTR retreading, GTR blending destined for recycling to attain raw substances utilized in other industrial application production processes, and the valorization of GTR for power/energy generation. The recycling of end-of-life tires enables the recovery of rubber, steel, and fibers, all of which are valid on the market as raw materials to be used for other processes. There are methods to recycle GTRs in a clean and environmentally friendly way. In the present research, several industrial applications of GTR polymer blends were developed and compared with standard values from the Spanish Association for Standardization (UNE) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In order to analyze the viability in many of the industrial applications selected, certain compounds obtained from the GTR polymer blends were analyzed regarding their use in nine low requirement insulator applications. The research and analysis developed in this manuscript used standard values from the UNE and IEC, and these standard values were compared with the test values. The obtained results were used to provide an application list that could be helpful for industrial applications. In this research, the pre-owned polymers were as follows: polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene-styrene (ABS), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyamide (PA). The filler used was GTR with particle sizes lower than 200 microns. The amounts of GTR particles in the compound materials were 0% (raw polymer), 5%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 50%, and 70% (the latter being found in polymeric blends). We discovered six plausible modern applications of GTR polymer blends as indicated by the UNE and IEC standards.

Study Analysis of Thermal, Dielectric, and Functional Characteristics of an Ethylene Polyethylene Diene Monomer Blended with End-of-Life Tire Microparticles Amounts

“…This means that the rubber reticulated structures have difficulties admitting other material in the inner; although, with previous treatments it is possible to put fractions of waste rubber materials without metallic and textile fraction in polymeric matrices. These obtained composites can have several applications such as in playgrounds, or as elements for public works, in urban parks, and others [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. In this case, recycling is much easier than devulcanization because it only requires the crushing and separation of the particles of GTR from whole components of tires [ 16 , 17 ].…”

Crumb Rubber as a Secondary Raw Material from Waste Rubber: A Short Review of End-Of-Life Mechanical Processing Methods

“…The development of composites with a polymer matrix and crumb rubber is well described in a recent review [72]. Uses of ground tire rubber in insulation materials containing polymeric matrix are reviewed in [73]. The recycling of such composite materials leads to the production of new composites with sacrificing the product quality due to low interface quality between rubber and polymeric matrix [74].…”

Influence of Tire Rubber Particles Addition in Different Branching Degrees Polyethylene Matrix Composites on Physical and Structural Behavior

“…Recent research works explore waste composite polymeric materials as potential materials for use in electrical insulation [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], generally for low insulation requirements. The present research is shown the structural-dielectric behavior from mixtures using one of the most used polymers in the industry such as polyethylene, in its most common varieties: high density (HDPE) and low density (LDPE).…”