• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2011

A new piece of test equipment, the slurry wear tester (SWT), was proposed in this study to evaluate the wear behavior of rubber vulcanizate in environmental contact with slurry. Natural rubber (NR) and chloroprene rubber (CR) were chosen as the basic matrices to test the slurry wear. The fluids used to fill the chamber of the SWT were 35% HCl and NaCl solution. The Akron abrasion test was used for comparison with SWT. According to the results of the Akron abrasion test, CR vulcanizate abraded more rapidly than NR vulcanizate under same test condition. It was found that the hysteresis of rubber was key factor contribute to the wear behavior. However, the slurry wear rate of the NR and CR vulcanizates did not change significantly, even with changes in the concentration of acid and the immersion time in both HCl and NaCl solutions; the fluid decreased the friction between the abrasive paper and the specimen. It also reduced the heat generated from repeated deformation and wear debris at the surface of the SWT's abrasion arm. Thus, these phenomena affected the wear behavior of rubber vulcanizate and caused different results in the conventional Akron abrasion test. This outcome could have resulted in an incorrect analysis if the slurry wear behavior of the rubber vulcanizate was estimated by the conventional abrasion tests, which are operated under dry conditions.