Influence of tire cord layers and arrangement direction on mechanical properties and vibration isolation of chloroprene rubber composite materials reinforced with polyester tire cord

Abstract Polyester tire cord is often used as reinforcement in the production of chloroprene rubber (CR) composite materials. This study investigated the influences of polyester tire cord layers and arrangement directions on the mechanical properties and vibration isolation of CR composite materials. The experimental results indicate that the optimal molding condition for bonding tire cord with CR composites is 170°C for 30 min, which enables tire cord-reinforced CR composites to exhibit maximum pull-out strength. The compression set, tensile strength, and tear strength of CR composites increased with the increasing number of tire cord layers, and the stretching direction parallel to the arrangement direction of the tire cord produced optimal reinforcement effect. Moreover, the storage modulus of CR composites is better than that of pure CR at low temperature, although it reduced the tan delta at glass transition temperature. Regarding the vibration isolation properties, the transmissibility ratio decreased at resonance frequency, while the damping ratio increased when the CR is reinforced with increasing number of tire cord layers.