Advanced multi-phase rubber foams

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CAMSO is a world leader in the design and manufacture of rubber tires and tracks for off-road/all-terrain vehicles used in agriculture, construction, material handling and all kinds of recreational products. To improve its position towards its international competitors, the development of more efficient, sustainable and less expensive products is a priority. So the main objective of this project is to improve two important properties: weight and mechanical performances of rubber-based products. But these improvements must be made while minimizing the raw material and manufacturing costs. A sub-objective is to understand how foaming (introduction of gas bubbles) in a rubber formulation can modify these properties. This will be investigated using two approaches: experiments and numerical simulations. To this end, optimization of the formulation (components and concentrations) and molding conditions (pressure, temperature, time) will be performed at the laboratory scale (small samples) and the best results will be transferred to the industrial partner (field conditions). The main challenge is to match the foaming and curing kinetics so they are occurring at the same time, but the chemical reactions involved are competitive. The main novelty of the work is to produce and compare different foam morphologies (cells size, density and geometry) and their effect on the overall rubber performances. This can be done using homogeneous samples (one layer = uniform density) or multilayers (density graded = density profile) to determine the effect of material/void distribution to control the materials properties, mainly through density reduction. Finally, cost-effective products will help CAMSO to remain a leader in the field of off-the-road tires and tracks. It is expected that the results will also have an environmental impact as the production of lower density materials will lead to lower fuel consumption and a reduction of greenhouse gas emission. The production of more resilient parts will also extend the life (service time) of the resulting products through improved performances.