Development of rubber-sand composite for enhanced impact resistance: Implications of vulcanization

Abstract

Developing rubber-sand composites for enhanced impact resistance faced challenges in material selection, optimisation of vulcanisation, interfacial bonding, and understanding underlying mechanisms. This study provides insights into the effect of vulcanisation on the energy absorption of rubber-sand composites and the potential benefits of adding sand particles as reinforcement, sulfur as a vulcanising agent and carbon black as reinforcement filler. Rubber-sand composites are made from the vulcanisation of natural rubber latex and reinforced with sand particles. Taguchi's design of experiments was used to vary the contents of sulfur (2, 3 and 4) and carbon black (30, 40 and 50) parts per hundred rubber (phr) and sand particles (0, 5 and 10 vol%). After vulcanisation, the composite blocks were prepared using the hot compression moulding technique for experimentation. The shore A hardness and low-velocity drop weight tests have been carried out to investigate the Rubber-sand composite's hardness and energy absorption properties, respectively. The results showed that the increment in the sulfur content increases the hardness of the rubber-sand composite. Additionally, sand particles and carbon black improved the composite's shore A hardness and energy absorption. Multiscale modelling techniques effectively simulated the experimental behaviour of the rubber-sand (Ru-San) composite, with a 3 – 11% error, demonstrating its capability to capture the structural response and damage characteristics under projectile impact conditions. The optimised composite has potential applications in industries that require impact resistance, such as the military, automotive and sports industries.

Keywords

• Natural rubber latex
• Vulcanization
• Rubber-sand composites
• Shore A hardness
• Energy absorption
• Compression moulding