Article: Zinc oxide reduction becoming a necessity.(Tech Bytes)

For many of us who have developed rubber compounds over the years, it has been 'automatic' to use 5 phr of zinc oxide and 2 phr of stearic acid as the activator for accelerated sulfur cure systems. Among the many variables in compounding, this activator system was known to work well in most compounds. Now, we are being faced with an initiative to re-design those compounds to reduce or eliminate zinc content because of environmental concerns. Elevated concentrations of zinc in water are known to be toxic to aquatic organisms, in particular many species of algae, crustaceans and salmonids. Although zinc is a common natural element that is abundant in the Earth's crust, the ...

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