Randall wrote:
>>Third, how can I heat and pour the substance?
>
>
> I don't think you can melt them with heat, without also burning the rubber.
> Might be able to melt them with a suitable solvent, though. Or as some have
> already mentioned, use some sort of binder to hold the chips together.
Quite the case. Vulcanizing changes the composition of the rubber
from a thick liquid to solid, and there's no easy way to change it
back again. The combination of sulfur, heat and pressure modifies
the cross-linking that affects hardness (among other qualities). It
is possible to reclaim the rubber using high temperatures
(presumably in a reducing or vacuum atmosphere) to undo the
vulcanizing, but the resulting product is never as good as virgin
material.
If there were an economical process to reclaim rubber from used
tires, it would probably be in production, since synthetic rubber is
dependent upon oil.
That said, I think any shop flooring made of used tire rubber
presents some notable opportunities for fire, etc., as others have
mentioned.
For just about everything you ever wanted to know about how tires
are made and the difficulties in recycling them, have a look at this:
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Publications/Tires/43296029.doc
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
Never let anyone drive you crazy when you know it's within walking
distance.
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