Antidegradants are important chemical ingredients that are added to rubber compounds to protect the rubber from chemical reactions with oxygen and ozone.
The antidegradants reduce but cannot stop, the oxidative aging process in rubbery materials. One may want to determine if a rubber product is depleted of antidegradants. As an example rubber-based product, the presence of antidegradants in passenger vehicle and truck tires was determined.
Rubber, harvested from the tread and steel belts of used tires, has been analyzed. The methods used for the analysis, specific analytical details to consider, and the analytical results obtained from old worn tires manufactured between 1993 and 2000 and recovered from the field are presented.
Do tires, even up to 20 years old at the time of the analysis, still contain protective antidegradants? The GC-mass spec provides the answer.