Enhancing Polymer Composites Through Addition of Waste Tire Rubber Particles Modified by Gamma Radiation

ABSTRACT Excessive waste of automobile tires poses serious environmental problems. One way to address this problem is to recycle them as fillers in polymer composite materials. However, the incorporation of waste fillers can reduce mechanical properties due to poor adhesion between the fillers and the polymer matrix; this problem can be overcome by gamma radiation. This work investigates the use of small‐sized waste rubber particles from automobile tires (0.25–0.85 mm) to partially replace marble used in the production of polymer composites produced with 30% polyester resin and 70% marble by weight, this latter with sizes as small as 1.7 mm. Also investigates the use of gamma radiation to modify the tire rubber particles and its addition to these polymer composite materials. The novelties of the work are the small particle sizes of marble and tire rubber, and the use of gamma radiation, which is not common in the production of polymer composite materials. The results show a significant improvement in the compressive modulus (39.4%), flexural modulus (10.3%), and compressive strength (23.9%). This resulted in a stiffer and stronger material.