Signature Control Systems, Inc.

Tim Erickson

Richard W Magill

Steve Courington

Bruce Sellers

John C Van Doren

Lance Bethel

Scott Schnieder

Scott Schneider

A process for curing a natural or synthetic rubber compound under a plurality of curing conditions by: (1) obtaining time dependent data streams of dielectric or impedance values from a non-bridged impedance sensing circuit and a capacitor having the rubber compound being cured as a dialectric; (2) determining impedance related measurements from the obtained data streams; (3) determining a predictive curing equation by performing a multiple regression between: (a) reheometric data obtained from a plurality of different rubber compound samples cured in a rheometer at various environmental curing conditions, and (b) corresponding samples cured in a production mold at the same environmental conditions; (4) adjusting the curing equation to obtain cured parts having one or more desired properties; and (5) controlling the mass producing cured parts with a controller that uses the curing equation for predicting a cure time for each part, wherein the predictions are effective over variations in the rubber compound, and in the mold temperature.

Controlling the curing of a rubber compound

Process and apparatus for improving and controlling the vulcanization of natural and synthetic rubber compounds

A process for curing a natural or synthetic rubber includes the measuring of curing conditions by dielectric or impedance means to produce a process curve (impedance property data versus time) followed by analyzing the process curve with a software algorithm which defines and statistically quantifies the correlation between the process curve and the desired part properties. The correlation relationship is applied in real time to end the curing process at the optimum time and to produce rubber parts of uniform quality and with reduced process cycle time.

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Littleton, CO, United States of America

Tim Erickson