Reduction of Wear in V-belts
V-belts for motor drives in high torque applications were
wearing and failing at an unusually high rate.
The V-belt manufacturer requested recommendations for
process changes which would yield improved wear resistance.
The vulcanized material in the belts consisted of a blend of
two rubbers heavily loaded with carbon black.
Rheological measurements on the uncured constituent rubbers
revealed significant changes in viscoelasticity due to shear
working and gradual incorporation of carbon black reinforcement
during processing.
The impact of these rheological changes on the resulting
blend structure and dispersion of carbon black were
quantified.
This understanding allowed design of a staged addition of
carbon black during compounding which changed the
microsctructure of the composite and significantly
increased wear resistance.
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