Vent cleaning of rubber molds
AssigneeRubreco Inc.
InventorsBrian H. Harrison, Hurdon A. Hooper, Mathew Ness
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Vents and micro-structures of rubber molds may become clogged with rubber that is difficult to remove. These vents and micro-structures can be cleaned of rubber, even if heat aged, by subjecting the mold to high temperatures in the presence of a solvent to devulcanize any rubber present. If the rubber used with the mold being cleaned includes carbon black, a solvent may be used to dissolve the devulcanized polymer, leaving the carbon black which can be removed by water jets or other cleaning means.
Claims12
A method of removing vulcanized rubber having filler from a structure used during forming a vulcanized rubber product, the method comprising:
- subjecting the structure and the vulcanized rubber on at least one surface of the structure used during forming the vulcanized rubber product to a high temperature of between 250° C. and 320° C. in the presence of a devulcanization solvent for a reaction time sufficient to devulcanize the vulcanized rubber;
- subjecting the structure and devulcanized rubber to a dissolving solvent to dissolve rubber polymer from the devulcanized rubber leaving the filler on the at least one surface of the structure;
- extracting the dissolved rubber polymer from the structure;
- and
- removing the filler remaining on the at least one surface of the structure from the structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.