Effect of the thermal history of a rubber composite on the adhesion strength

In this study, the geometry of the tyre cord adhesion test (TCAT) was used to evaluate the adhesion strength between rubber and fibre. The activation energy (DeltaE) of rubber compound used in this study was 72.43 kJ mol(-1) and the difference of cure state between the inside and outside regions of the TCAT specimen with curing time was elucidated using the value of DeltaE. The difference in cure state between the inside and outside regions of the TCAT specimen corresponded to the effect of 5.06 min of curing time. The cure state of the inside region of the TCAT specimen greatly affected the final adhesion strength and the results were confirmed by additional experiments. It was concluded that optimum adhesion between rubber and cord could not be obtained in a TCAT specimen unless the additional curing time to reach the optimum cure state of the inside region of the TCAT specimen was taken into account. (C) 2004 Society of Chemical Industry.