Thermoset composite material and structural component and method of making the same from engineered recycled rubber powder

A thermoset composite material, comprising:

• a substantially homogeneous blend of an amount of vulcanized recycled rubber particles produced from comminuting a rubber article at temperatures that do not exceed a glass transition temperature of the rubber article, and a thermoset elastomeric binding agent added to the vulcanized rubber particles;
• wherein the blend comprises about 30% to about 97% by weight of the vulcanized recycled rubber particles and a particle size of the rubber particles does not exceed 20 mesh;
• and,
• the blend is subjected to compression molding at a pressure of at least 1,000 psi and at a temperature of at least 200° F. for a resident time period forming the composite material.

A railroad tie fabricated from a thermoset composite material, comprising:

• a substantially homogeneous blend of an amount of vulcanized recycled rubber particles including a predetermined ratio of different particle sizes, and a thermoset elastomeric binding agent added to the vulcanized rubber particles;
• the blend comprises about 30% to about 97% by weight of the vulcanized recycled rubber particles, and the blend is subjected to compression molding at a predetermined temperature of about 350° F. and pressure of about 4,5000 psi for a resident time period forming the composite material;
• and,
• wherein the ratio of different rubber particle sizes is selected so that the composite material has a desired density of about 60 lbs/ft3 to about 70 lbs/ft3.