Do you want to develop lighter rubber products (shoe outsoles, automotive components, etc...), but are worried that the use of hollow glass beads will cause breakage during the manufacturing process? You can refer to the following suggestions!!

 

Kelly Chemical provides a variety of high-quality hollow glass bead products, which have been proven to provide thermal insulation, lightweight, anti-warping and reduce thermal expansion coefficient CTE, dielectric constant Dk and other effects.

 

（Further reading:High-tech hollow glass beads material, enhance the value for your products~!! )

 

 

1. Adding hollow glass beads to rubber products can bring many advantages:

 

        1、Reduce weight

 

        Rubber products are also developing in the direction of being lightweight and durable, especially the rubber soles that are currently maturely using hollow glass beads. From the conventional density of about 15g/cm3, 5-8 parts of hollow glass beads are added to reduce it to 1.0g/cm3. (commonly known as "floating on water"), currently, customers with certain R&D capabilities have increased the density to 0.9 or even 0.85g/cm3 by adding hollow glass beads, which greatly reduces the density of rubber and reduces the weight of the shoe by 20% while maintaining the same shape as before.

 

Ultra-light and high-performance rubber parameters
	Density	Hardness	Tensile Strength	Elongation	Tear strength	DIN wear
White rubber	0.96	50	16.5	707	38	109.5
Natural rubber	0.90	60	8.0	435	35	105

 

        2、Heat insulation 

 

(Further reading:Hollow glass beads, the magical application of thermal insulation coatings~!! )

 

        The hollow structure of the hollow glass bead gives itself low thermal conductivity. When added as a low thermal conductivity filler to rubber materials, it can have a good thermal insulation effect, being used in products such as thermal insulation pads and paints.

 

        3、Sound absorption and noise reduction 

 

        The interior of the hollow glass beads is thin gas, and sound waves will be weakened in this part. It has a good sound absorption and noise reduction effect under a certain amount of addition.

 

        4、Good dimensional stability 

 

        The base material of the hollow glass bead is made of glass, with a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and good dimensional stability when subjected to cold and heat shocks. Adding it to rubber materials will give the product better dimensional stability.

 

 2. Suggestions for use during processing:

       

      1. The processing equipment for rubber products is generally internal mixers, open mills, single-screw extruders, etc. Since the hollow glass beads are made of glass and the walls are rigid particles, some parts will form under the action of mechanical shearing force. In the case of breakage, the hollow glass beads will lose its unique functionality after being broken.

 

​       ​ 2. Hollow glass beads have different models and corresponding parameters. It is extremely important to select appropriate hollow glass beads products according to different equipment conditions and product needs. We recommend the use of HS38 and HS42 in rubber products.

 

        3. When used in an internal mixer, the rubber material will be sheared by the rotor, and the hollow glass beads will inevitably be subjected to shearing force. Therefore, the time of the hollow glass beads in the internal mixing should be minimized. It is recommended to add it in the later stage of internal mixing. , the hollow glass beads can be dispersed evenly after being mixed for 3-5 minutes after adding; on the open mill, the roller spacing and the open mixing time have a greater impact on the breakage of the hollow glass beads. It is recommended that the roller spacing be >2mm, and the open mixing time should not be too long. ; The overall shear force of the single-screw extruder is small, which has relatively little impact on the hollow glass beads. It is recommended to increase the extrusion temperature by 5°C to reduce the viscosity of the material, which is more conducive to extrusion molding and reduces the size of the hollow glass beads. broken.

#hollow glass beads #Low CTE #light weight #good fluidity #anti-warpaging #low Dk