Frances van Elburg

PhD student and junior lecturer

Frances van Elburg is a PhD student and junior lecturer in the elastomer technology and engineering (ETE) group at the University of Twente, Netherlands. During her master’s program at the University of Twente in industrial design engineering, van Elburg specialized in advanced materials science. Her graduation project focused on the post-hardening effect of vulcanized natural rubber compounds. Afterward, she stayed in the ETE group to work on her PhD about designing a more sustainable tire tread compound, in collaboration with Bridgestone. As a junior lecturer, van Elburg teaches material science courses to bachelor students of various study programs.

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Presentation

Evaluation of the curing package for eco-friendly tire tread compounds

The goal of the study is to understand the different behavior of conventional accelerators in silica-filled S-SBR/BR to find a bio-based alternative. It was recently discovered that zinc oxide and stearic acid are not needed to activate the curing reaction in high vinyl S-SBR. Therefore, accelerators with different chemical functional groups were evaluated in simplified tread compounds with and without activators. The interactions between activators, accelerators and sulfur were further studied, as well as the mechanism of the vulcanization reaction. The outcome of the study forms a starting point for the development of a more sustainable accelerator.