Engineering Automotive Products Using Recycled Rubber

Rubber is a difficult material to recycle. Each year millions of pounds of industrial scrap and over 250 million scrap tires are disposed of in North America. New technology for recovering rubber has focused on two areas: grinding rubber to fine particle sizes and activating rubber particles to permit them to be revulcanized into the polymer matrix. These developments have resulted in several new material substitution opportunities. Revulcanized rubber and fine grind rubber can be incorporated into rubber formulations at concentrations in excess of 50%, while still meeting strict customer and quality specifications.

New rubber recycling technologies are real and expanding in usefulness. Products not thought possible to include recycled rubber, e.g. exhaust hangers, air ducts or tires, have been brought to market.