In the rubber industry the petroleum oils are mainly used as:
RUBBER PROCESS OILS (used by manufacturer of finished rubber product, to aid processing) and RUBBER EXTENDERS OILS
(used by raw material manufacturers to soften polymers).
Extender oil by swelling the polymer and by providing lubricants between rubber molecules softens the stiff rubbery polymers.
By adding extender oils the molecular weight, viscosity & solvency of the base polymers can be varied & because of oil content
more additional ingredients can be blended.
Process oils assist in the mixing operation, reduces compounding time, improve process ability and modify the physical
properties of the finished product.
New rubber compounding process requires high speed mixing & short mixing times & proper polymer consistency for rapid
processing. Process oils can aid to optimize these conditions, the compounder can achieve a workable mass with good
dispersion of fillers by selecting correct process oil.
Sticking to calendar & Process oils as well as other ingredients (like wax) import an oiliness to the rubber mass that helps prevent
tube machine dies. It is particularly important in extrusion & injection mouldings where output & rejection rates are adversely
affected by a sticky non-uniform formulation.
Since the primary plasticizers in pvc leather cloth manufacturing are costly, process oils may be used as secondary plasticizers to
reduce cost.