Development of NR/SBR Based Rubber Compounds with Low Hysteresis and High Durability for Transmission V-Belts Applications

Abstract

Power transmission by the belts is defined as, the transmission of power by a moving pulley to one or more driven machines through a flexible non-metallic member. There are different types of V-belts available, and Transmission Belts are one of them. Transmission V-Belt is the first invented non-metallic belts. Nowadays V-belts are used in various conditions, especially high-power transmission. These V-belts are finding their importance in many heavy industries. One of the good features of this type belt is no slippage occurs during the run. NR and SBR have used elastomers and can act as a base rubber material for this purpose. This study includes the compounding improvement for transmission V-Belts with NR and SBR rubber blends. There were so many numbers of failures in different ways during the initial research. Product failure methods and effect analysis (PFMA) have done by testing the belts multiple times and it has found that the major factors for the failure and less durability were excessive heat build-up (HBU) and poor fatigue resistance, poor crack initiation and growth, the resistance of the materials. So, initially reduction of HBU has successfully made in many steps by studying the properties of various compounds with a different type of fillers combinations, rubber combinations, curing systems variations etc. We have also improved the adhesion strength with cord and fabrics. Initially, we have taken one compound showing better properties in all aspects and have taken Belt Trial. And after some more improvement, we have found a compound showing better properties in all the cases than first trial and regular trials. By using that compound, we have developed Belts and showing better durability than earlier experiments and regular production.