the effect of leather fiber upon vulcanization characteristics and physical-mechanical properties of elastomeric compounds

in this work, leather fibers were employed as a component of elastomeric compounds based on nbr, cr and epdm and studied were made on their effects upon curing characteristics and mechanical properties of the prepared compounds. evaluation of curing characteristics of the compounds demonstrated that leather fibers have no considerable effect on initial viscosity and curing time of the compounds. the study of mechanical properties of the vulcanized compounds showed that inclusion of leather fibers leads to increasing of tensile strength in nbr based compound due to compatibility between nbr and leather fibers. it is also found that increase in tensile strength in nbr compounds depends on the curing system of the compounds. the results of this work showed considerable increase in hardness for all of the prepared compounds. abrasion resistance and resilience of the compounds were also measured and reported.