Study of mechanical properties of inner tubes exposed to gamma radiation

Abstract

Due to the technical evolution of tires, currently most automotive tires do not have an inner tube. However, truck, motorcycle and bicycle tires still use tires with inner tubes, mostly made of synthetic elastomeric material, which guarantees good potential for air restriction or longer periods for tire pressure failure. This work aims to study changes in the mechanical properties of a truck inner tire, after its exposure to gamma rays, to promote the subsequent recycling of the material. The choice of ionizing radiation is due to its ability to modify the structure and properties of materials, in addition to its applicability in recycling/recovering rubber. For the characterization of the samples, doses of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 kGy were applied, and after irradiation as a sample, they were tested using the following characterization methods: traction and elongation at break, hardness, thermal aging and elemental analysis. Observed that is a decrease in the values of the mechanical properties of the samples after irradiation, mainly at doses greater than 10 kGy.