Rubber Additives/ Additives Used In Rubber Compounding | Best Rubber Chemicals Suppliers/Distributor

IR Tubes Pvt. Ltd. has been a rubber chemicals distributor and supplier to component manufacturers in the General Rubber Goods Industry for the past three decades. They continually build relationships and work as partners to stabilise the newly developed products from our range in the manufacturing process to meet their customer’s needs.

In our daily lives, it is almost a certainty that we use at least one rubber item. Footwear, rubberbands, car tyres, and the list goes on. The kinds of goods manufactured using rubber are highly varied and the method of manufacturing differs. What remains the same are the properties of rubber that we take for granted: stretch, durability, strength.

I R Tubes Pvt. Ltd., with its growing portfolio of chemicals plays a vital role in both dry and wet rubber applications. Given the increasing awareness of using environmentally friendly chemicals, we offer our customers products that provide safer alternatives.

Customers often require these specialty chemicals to be produced in widely differing quantities, ranging from grams to multi-tonnes, and it is crucial to their success that they can rely on I R Tubes to deliver these products as and when they need them. I R Tubes continually works with customers to ensure new products are available to meet their needs. The chemicals they provide as rubber chemicals suppliers to the General Rubber Goods industry complies with the European Union’s REACH legislation. I. R. Tubes provides documentation in compliance at the ingredient level.

Strengths & working culture:

  • Efficient decision-making, flexible quantities
  • Individual customer service
  • Technical support and back up from the principals
  • Cooperative and individualized development
  • Delivery of small batches to suit customer needs
  • Use of renewable materials and resources
  • User-friendly products
  • Efficient logistical support

Contact us to find out how our highly skilled teams can make your next project our latest success.

rubber chemicals suppliers

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Our Mission As a Rubber Chemicals Distributor and Suppliers

I.R. Tubes has been one of the most reliable rubber chemicals suppliers and distributors to component manufacturers in the Rubber Goods Industry for the past three decades. Their mission has always been delivering additives used in rubber compounding & chemicals formulated to precision over the years of our service. As a rubber chemicals distributor, I. R. Tubes consistently offers its partners an unparalleled level of expertise and customer service.

I.R Tubes’ partners that have chosen it as their rubber chemicals distributor are not only receiving high-quality rubber chemicals and additives for rubber, but are also benefiting from I.R. Tubes’ years of industry experience in the rubber industries. Our assistance with satisfying the industry’s most stringent technical, quality, and safety standards has given their partners an edge over their competitors. I.R. Tubes’ responsibility as additives for rubber suppliers is to help every partner receive the right product, package, and quantity on time, at the right price, every time. This is a responsibility they honor by connecting with their customers as a priority best to understand their requirements and expectations with the products they receive.

I.R Tubes’ commitment to delivering the best comes from their dedication towards the industry. They not only are about providing quality chemicals but also provide innovative solutions to their clients to make this industry a better place by helping their businesses succeed. Being an expert distributor in additives, I.R. Tubes understand their partners’ needs and aim to meet them with utmost efficiency.

They continually strive to hold their position amongst the most reliable organisations in the chemical distribution industry by offering the most professional sales & marketing services and ensuring consistently high standards. They also strive to remain the safest rubber chemicals distributor there is.

Initially, the company only supplied to the rubber industry, but now the specialty chemicals are being sold to the PVC, Latex, Adhesives & Sealant industry too. Today, I. R. Tubes Pvt. Ltd. sources its products from high-quality manufacturers such as D. O. G Deutsche Oelfabrik, Omya U. K., Emery Oleochemicals, Robinson Brothers and Aquaspersions Ltd. They have their plants located in Germany, Malaysia, and the U. K.

Reasons for Being The Best Supplier Of Rubber Additives

I R Tubes Pvt. Ltd, Pune is one of the best suppliers of additives for rubber and has been in the industry for a long time and understands the importance of high-quality speciality additives. Certain additives must be added to plastics and synthetic rubbers to produce desired properties in end application compounds. A number of additives used in rubber compounding, both natural and synthetic rubber for this purpose. Filler systems, binders and chemical additives have many different applications in compounding. These applications range from improving material strength to altering aesthetic properties.

For example, peptizers are used in the mastication of natural rubber to optimise its processing. This rubber additive ensures quality in the manufacture of Rubber Goods where there is little or no rejection. It requires specialty chemicals to achieve a good dispersion of fillers and perfect plasticity. Natural rubber without treatment is extremely tough. In this case peptizers are used in the mastication of natural rubber to optimize processing.
In contrast to the mechanical mastication of rubber, chemical peptizers shorten the mastication time and lower the energy consumption, with the result that productivity in compounding improves.

Rubber additive supplier

For economic reasons mechanical and thermal mastication have lost importance and has been replaced by chemical mastication. The use of peptizers, which is a rubber additive, accelerates the mastication over a broad temperature range. For e.g. when using Dispergum 36 the chemical develops its mastication potential already at 60 degree Centigrade and more importantly does not contain substances which require hazard labelling.

Rubber process oil suppliers

Dispergum 36 provides an easy mastication of natural rubber or synthetic diene rubbers on an open mill as well as in an internal mixer. The combination of metal-complex-catalysts and dispersion additives enables the adjustment of the required Mooney viscosity, and helps to save energy and to protect the environment. The tested compounds showed no negative effects on ageing and physical properties. Dispergum 36 also needs no hazard labelling. Further Dispergum 36 does not affect ageing and physical properties. As a rubber additive it is one of the most environmental friendly and is REACH compliant.

 

R&D Activities for Rubber Additives

I R Tubes has its own well-established processes and significant years of experience to evaluate rubber compound properties for proposing customized additive solutions with optimized formulas and processes to our customers.

Speciality Additives Used In Rubber Compounding

Rubber additives have the most efficient composition of chemicals. Additives for rubber should be mixed in the correct ratios to obtain high quality and consistent output.
Rubber processing consists of four basic steps:

  1. Mastication, when the elastomer is sheared and the molecules are broken down to give easier flow.
  2. Mixing, usually carried out immediately after mastication, when the additives are incorporated.
  3. Shaping of the viscous mass, for example, by extrusion or molding .
  4. Curing, when the polymer molecules become interlinked and the shape is fixed.

A number of additives used in rubber compounding are added to both natural and synthetic rubber in order to obtain certain desirable properties. Reactive materials, fillers, oils, and protective chemicals of various kinds, as described above, are incorporated into the base elastomer.

Lubricants are additives for rubber that are necessary additives for compound production, that improve compound flow and release. Polyethylene and polypropylene waxes are preferred because of their low molecular weight. This quality allows grains to be easily dispersed in natural and synthetic rubbers.

Binders are another type of additive. The function of a binder is to hold materials together. Amorphous polyolefin (APO) and Atactic Polypropylene (APP) are common binders for plastic masterbatches. They are also used as a base polymer for hot melt adhesives and as an extender in sealants. APO and APP are typically part of manufacturing formulations in the automotive, footwear, construction, energy and cable industries.

Another additive that is typically overlooked and underappreciated in plastic and rubber compounds are the filler systems. Quartz sand functional fillers are used to help cut costs, strengthen the elastomer, add specific properties and increase abrasion resistance. Using functional filler systems adds value by allowing the rubber additive supplier to optimize the fill ratio while adding value to the compound.

The most important ingredients are those, known as the cure package, that cause interlinking reactions to take place when the mix is “cured.” In order to minimize the risk of premature cure, these additives are usually added at the end of mixing. The cure package usually consists of sulfur and one or more “accelerators” (e.g., sulfenamides, thiurams, or thiazoles), which make the sulfur interlinking reaction occur faster and more efficiently.

Certain additives confer resistance to heat, sunlight, oxygen, and ozone. Amines, particularly paraphenylene diamines, are powerful retarders of oxidation, or antioxidants.Rubber additive suppliers add to rubber compounds in small amounts (1–2 percent), to disrupt the free-radical oxidation reactions that lead either to molecular rupture and softening or to increased interlinking and hardening as rubber ages.

Synthetic Rubber Process Oil Suppliers

We are Speciality rubber process oil suppliers, meeting European Regulation for non-carcinogenic oils. We offer EDENOL111 is an adipate ester. It acts as a low temperature plasticizer. Imparts low migration, low volatility, high permanence and weatherability and is compatible with synthetic rubber EDENOL T810T STAB is a trimellitate ester. It acts as a high temperature plasticizer. Possesses low migration, low volatility, high permanence and weatherability and is compatible with PVC and synthetic rubbers.

EDENOL 181 is high molecular weight adipate ester. Acts as a low temperature plasticizer. It imparts low migration, low volatility, high permanence and weatherability and is compatible with synthetic rubbers.

EDENOL 1208 is a polymeric plasticizer based on adipic acid. Possesses low viscosity, migration, low volatility, high permanence and weatherability. It shows good properties when used in plastisol processing, for example dipping, rotational molding and casting applications. It is compatible with PVC, synthetic rubbers and PLA. And is in compliance with the EU REACH regulation.

Rubber process oils, as the name suggests, are used primarily as a processing oil in rubber products manufacturing, during the mixing of rubber compounds. They improve the processing ability and filter incorporation as a plasticizer, or act as an extendor.

As a Rubber process oil suppliers, we can assure you that there are significant benefits for e.g. improves efficiency and productivity, lowers energy consumption, improve processing ability of rubber and rubber compounds.

Water-Based Dispersions

When processing natural and synthetic latex, the additives, which are distributed particles need to be dispersed in an efficient and continuous manner through out the application. For this to occur the additives should be in a pre-dispersed form before compounding into the latex. As the end quality of the product needs to be maintained, many companies outsource the preparation of water-based dispersions and emulsions to specialists.

The dispersions contain solid particles dispersed into the liquid (water) phase. Mostly the solid particles, especially additives like sulphur, accelerators, pigment and zinc oxide have a significantly higher density than water. As a result, there is a strong natural tendency for these materials to settle down due to the forces of gravity. This can result in the dispersion being un-usable due to heavy sedimentation, and of course after compounding the dispersion into latex, the same natural forces apply to the solid additives now inside the compounded latex. That is where development of the right formulation of active ingredients, water content and auxiliary ingredients (e.g. surfactants & dispersing agents) is necessary to achieve the best quality which can be consistently reproduced batch after batch. It is well known that such consistency of dispersion quality is one key factor of success for producing top quality dipped latex goods.

The application of water-based dispersions has been widely developed in gloves, condoms, textile, paint and construction industries. It’s superior properties, such as impact strength, abrasion resistance and low temperature flexibility, continuously expand its usage in many applications. Most importantly, since water is the primary solvent, water-based dispersions can effectively reduce or eliminate the use of fugitive organic solvents during the operation process.

Plasticisers for Rubber

Plasticisers are necessary in rubber formulations for improving the processing of the rubber by lowering the compound’s viscosity. Plasticisers for Rubber also aid in lowering the temperature and help in the flexibility of the formulated rubber.

Processing rubber for products is complicated.  So, processing aids that can act as softeners, extenders, lubricants, stabilizers, and strengtheners, depending on the needs of the manufacturer, are used. Because there is a wide range of chemicals used as processing aids and plasticisers, the individual properties of each compounding material can differ greatly. Depending on a customer’s specific compound, process requirements and chemical compatibility, the correct additive must be selected to ensure proper performance.

More recently, organic plasticisers for rubber like rice bran oil and rice oil, castor oil, soybean oil have been used as processing aids. Some experimentation when adding palm oil in an NBR matrix improved the aging resistance and plasticizing efficiency. However, because processing aids, such as natural oils, have a higher molecular weight, the hydrophobic characteristic of the oil greatly hinders its dispersion and reactions with the silica and rubber matrices in the tread compound.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) Do you have anything to improve adhesion?

Yes we have tackifiers for e.g. Deotack RS, Deotack 1100 and others.

2) How can you prevent bloom in rubber?

By using accelerators at the correct solubility level of the polymer. We have accelerator blends which solve this problem for you.

3) Do you have any very low temperature plasticisers for rubber?

Yes. Edenol DOZ

4) Do you have any co-agents for use in peroxide cured rubbers?

Yes. We have HVA2, TAC, TAIC

5) Do you have any non-staining antioxidants for rubber?

Yes we do have. We have equivalents for 2246, Wingstay L, and Naugard 45

6) What is an Elastomer?

An Elastomer is a material that has the property of being elastic with resilience to return to its initial shape after distortion within a reasonably short amount of time. This attribute allows rubber materials to be used for sealing applications where its flexibility is incredibly important. IR Tubes is Elastomer(Rubber Chemical) Suppliers.

7) What Is Natural Rubber?

Natural rubber is the rubber material derived directly from the Hevea brasiliensis tree. The sap/latex of the tree is collected then through the addition of ammonia with formic acid., Natural rubber, which chemically known as Polyisoprene, is processed into end produced using both latex liquid form and a dry gum form.

8) Are all Synthetic rubbers natural?

No. Though natural rubber has many outstanding properties, mainly high strength and toughness, there are plenty of synthetic rubber types which can easily stand up to the same tasks, as well as provide added benefits such as improved aging resistance or chemical resistance.

9) How do I properly store rubber products to maximize shelf life?

Ultra-violet light & Ozone cause the most damage to rubber parts in storage. Molded rubber products, whether in bulk or in assemblies, should be placed in sealed bags and kept in boxes out of direct sunlight, excessive temperatures and humidity. They should be stored in cool, dark & dry places to maximize shelf life.

10) Why is rubber used to produce industrial products?

Rubber has certain unique properties which makes it suitable to produce rubber products which are widely used in various industrial applications. Rubber is water repellent. It is resistant to alkalies and weak acids. Rubber has elasticity, toughness, impermeability, adhesiveness, and electrical resistance. These properties make rubber useful as an adhesive, a coating composition, a fiber, a molding compound, as well as an electrical insulator.

11) How is synthetic rubber superior to natural rubber?

Synthetic rubber has the following advantages over natural rubber:

  • better aging and weathering
  • more resistance to oil
  • resistance to solvents, oxygen, ozone, and certain chemicals
  • resilience over a wider temperature range

12) What are the advantages of using water-based dispersions?

In the most practical sense by using water-based dispersions, over solvent based dispersions, companies can adhere to environmental legislations such as clean air due to advanced technology and also

  • Avoid the handling of dusty material
  • Make the handling of any hazardous chemicals much safer
  • Significantly reduce process operator exposure to the chemicals
  • Avoid the cost of dust abatement & filtration equipment
  • Reduced chemical effluent & waste, saving both the environment and costs

13) Which plasticisers is Phthalate free?

Plasticisers such as Edenol 111, Edenol 181, Edenol DOZ, Edenol 1208 are Phthalate free. All products are REACH and ROHS compliant.