Rubber skeleton material is the main component of composite rubber products containing skeleton materials, and it also plays an important role in stabilizing the shape of this kind of rubber products. For example, tires, tape, some hoses, sealing and damping rubber products are composed of rubber elastomer components and high modulus and high strength skeleton materials. These rubber products have different requirements for skeleton materials, so there are skeleton materials of different materials and different structures. Different materials are mainly natural fiber, synthetic fiber, metal materials. Different structures are mainly rope, cord, canvas, non-woven and so on. The surface treatment of skeleton materials and the adhesion with rubber matrix are also very important problems.

一. the basic function of rubber skeleton material.

Rubber material is a kind of polymer material with high elasticity, large deformation and low modulus. Such as sufficient elasticity can absorb shock, provide high wear resistance, friction coefficient and excellent adhesion and so on. However, in most cases, pure rubber products can not meet the needs of practical use, and rubber products have to bear a large load in most cases. such as tires, conveyor belts and other rubber products need to be compounded with fiber, steel wire and other skeleton materials, so that the rubber material has been more widely used. The firm combination of rubber and its skeleton material can not only protect the skeleton material, but also give full play to the strengthening effect of the skeleton material.

The purpose of using skeleton materials in rubber products is to give rubber products higher strength and dimensional stability. In the tire, the tire cord constrains the rubber to maintain a stable inflatable section width and outer diameter, while part of the bead ring frame tightens the tire on the automobile rim and resists the effect of centrifugal force at high speed. The warp thread in the conveyor belt bears the tensile tension load, and the weft thread provides impact resistance. The skeleton layer woven or wound in the hose can prevent the hose from being stiff enough during blasting or vacuum suction under high pressure, and the skeleton of the sealed product with skeleton can keep its shape stable.

二. Types and classification of rubber skeleton materials.

Rubber skeleton materials are mainly made of three major materials, natural cotton fiber, a variety of chemical fibers and metal materials. In addition to using metal to directly process a certain shape of the skeleton and ordinary single steel wire, most rubber skeleton materials are rope, cord, or canvas produced by twisting, stranding, weaving or impregnation of fiber or steel wire. This series of skeleton materials with different structures are beneficial to improve their fatigue resistance, adhesion to rubber and easy processability. The performance of the skeleton material depends on its material and its structure. This paper briefly introduces the characteristics of the main fiber and steel wire as follows: the classification and function of the skeleton material of rubber products.

The main results are as follows:

(1) the basic properties of cotton fiber (cotton fiber) are low strength and good adhesion with rubber.

(2) the high strength viscose fiber of rayon fiber (viscose fiber) is commonly used in rubber industry. Rayon has higher dry strength but lower wet strength.

(3) vinylon fiber (polyvinyl alcohol fiber) has high strength, good wear resistance and light resistance, but its moisture and heat resistance is not good.

(4) Polyamide fiber (polyamide fiber) or nylon, also known as nylon, has high strength, high elongation at break, good elasticity, flexibility and wear resistance better than other fibers, but its thermal stability is poor, so it has been widely used in bias tires and other products.

(5) polyester fiber polyester fiber combines the strength and elongation properties of nylon and the modulus characteristics of rayon, so it is suitable for many uses, such as polyester cord fabric is basically used in the carcass skeleton of semi-steel wire radial tire.

(6) aromatic polyamide fiber (aramid fiber) or aramid fiber, aromatic polyamide fiber has high strength, low elongation and good heat resistance, which is known as "artificial steel wire", but its price is high, so it has been used in tires and high strength conveyor belts.

(7) glass fiber glass fiber has higher modulus and heat resistance, but its flex resistance and adhesion with rubber are poor.

(8) Steel wire (steel cord) steel cord, steel wire rope and ordinary single steel wire all have extremely high strength and modulus. Copper or galvanized steel wire has solved the problem of adhesion with rubber very well, and has been widely used in tires, steel rope conveyor belts, steel braided hoses and other products.