• Understand how rubber fatigue and failure characteristics are influenced by materials selection and compound structural features
• Learn compounding strategies to improve strength and fatigue lifetime
• Know the right testing methods to characterize rubber durability efficiently in the lab

Workshop Overview

• Introduction: What types of failures are manifested in your products, and what is durability worth to you?
• Brief overview of rubber formulations and mixing approaches
• Testing for durability in the rubber lab: Focus on efficient testing of crack nucleation and crack growth
• Framework for compounding for durability
• Polymer selection: Chemical stability, strain-induced crystallization, molecular mobility, polymer blends
• Crosslinking effects: Effects of type, density, and distribution of crosslinks
• Filler type, dispersion, and reinforcement topics, including processing effects and crack precursors
• Stiffness and deformation control mode
• Influence of oils, plasticizers, and resins
• Stabilizing against aging
• Simulation for materials selection and durability prediction
• Wrap-up discussions, final Q&A

Workshop Details

Presented LIVE online over three sessions from 9:00 a.m. - noon EST. As a special service to attendees, Dr. Robertson will be available for individual questions during office hours from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. daily during the course.

Format

The workshop includes live lectures and live exercises focused on understanding the fatigue behavior of rubber and developing compounding approaches to improve durability. This course is a LIVE training event and link to the presentation of each class will be made available to registrants for their reference/review. These links will be active for seven days after the class date so attendees will have time to make up classes they may not be able to attend live. This course will NOT be distributed or broadcast beyond this time period.  

Instructor

Dr. Chris Robertson is an international authority on polymer science and rubber compounding for performance. He brings over 15 years of materials research and product development experience at tire and rubber companies and raw materials suppliers.  Chris is co-inventor of 32 patents, co-author of 62 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Rubber Chemistry & Technology.

Cost: $960

Endurica LLC reserves the right to cancel a scheduled training course if the minimum class size is not met. In the event of a cancellation, Endurica LLC will make every attempt to notify registered participants within five working days. Payment made for a canceled course will be refunded in full or applied to another scheduled training course.

Participant cancellations must be received at least 10 working days in advance. Registrations canceled by participants less than 10 working days before the training course begins are subject to a 50% cancellation charge. For cancellations occurring on the first day of a scheduled training course, and for "no shows," the full tuition fee is non-refundable.