Improving adhesion between polyester cord and rubber by usingglycidyl-POSS

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) cords are usually coated with epoxy and/or isocyanate solutions (like methylene diphenyl diisocyanate [MDI]) before resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) to increase the adhesion efficiency of RFL. In this article, the addition of glycidyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (GPOSS) as an adhesion promoter to PET cord was investigated for reinforcing PET cord/rubber interfacial adhesion. Therefore, GPOSS treated PET cords (GPOSS + MDI + RFL) were prepared in different process conditions like different GPOSS ratios and oven curing times and then vulcanized with rubber. RFL, GPOSS + RFL, MDI + RFL, and commercial epoxies treated PET cord samples were also prepared for comparison with GPOSS+MDI + RFL treated PET cord. The thermal, mechanical, and morphological properties of the treated PET yarn and their composites with rubber were investigated. It was seen that in the GPOSS coated PET yarns increased the stiffness and no change was observed in the tensile strength of the PET yarns. It was determined that the utilization of GPOSS in the PET cord improved the adhesion of the cord to rubber when compared with other treated PET cords via H-adhesion and strip peel adhesion tests. Especially, since adhesion values give better results than commercially used epoxies, GPOSS as an adhesion promoter can be recommended in the rubber industry.