Advanced multi-phase rubber foams

CAMSO是设计和制造橡胶轮胎和履带的世界领导者，用于农业，建筑，材料处理和各种娱乐产品的越野/全地形车辆。为了提高其在国际竞争对手中的地位，开发更高效、可持续和更便宜的产品是一个优先事项。因此，本项目的主要目标是提高橡胶制品的两个重要性能：重量和机械性能。但这些改进必须在最大限度地降低原材料和制造成本的同时进行。一个子目标是了解橡胶配方中的发泡（引入气泡）如何改变这些性能。这将使用两种方法进行研究：实验和数值模拟。为此，将在实验室规模（小样品）下优化配方（组分和浓度）和成型条件（压力、温度、时间），并将最佳结果转移给工业合作伙伴（现场条件）。主要的挑战是匹配发泡和固化动力学，使它们同时发生，但所涉及的化学反应是竞争性的。这项工作的主要新奇之处是生产和比较不同的泡沫形态（泡孔大小，密度和几何形状）及其对整体橡胶性能的影响。这可以使用均匀样品（一层=均匀密度）或多层（密度梯度=密度分布）来完成，以确定材料/空隙分布的影响，从而主要通过密度降低来控制材料性能。最后，具有成本效益的产品将帮助CAMSO保持在越野轮胎和履带领域的领导者地位。由于生产密度较低的材料将降低燃料消耗及减少温室气体排放，预期该结果亦将对环境产生影响。生产更有弹性的部件也将通过改进性能延长最终产品的寿命（使用时间）。

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.