Milling to soften raw rubber and mix dry ingredients into the compound

1. Rubber is a material that shares some of the properties of both solid and liquid. In this video, tough raw natural rubber has been loaded into a mill, where counter-rotating steel rollers grind it into a softened, semi-fluid mass. This action, in the presence of oxygen in the air, tears the long, chain-like rubber molecules into shorter lengths. The rubber becomes softer and easier to process, and it readily accepts any other ingredients that may be needed to create a "compound". A compound is the total combination of the rubber polymer and modifiers, such as reinforcing fillers, oils, pigments, antioxidants, vulcanization chemicals, etc.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Milling
• rubber
• mill
• soften
• raw
• mix
• dry
• ingredients
• compound

[Pipe42]

Working with your hands so close to massive rollers looks kind of dangerous ...

[jonnorthstar]

@Pipe42 You are right -- it is dangerous. In my career (36 years), I have known maybe 9 or 10 people in the U.S.A. and China factories who have lost fingers from the mills. There are standard techniques for working with rubber mills which will prevent accidents, but an accident can happen if you ignore the rules, or if you are careless for just one moment. Fortunately, I still have all of my fingers.

[ObnoxiousRecuts]

worked at a place like that, last year a guy lost his right arm- ripped out of the socket.

[MakeEveryMomentCount]

@Pipe42 It looks like they're large enough that your hands never go near anywhere they can get caught, during standard work. Although, i'm sure if you reached up over and got your hand between the rollers you'd get pulled through a 1 inch gap.