PhD student sponsored by Robinson Brothers makes key discovery

As the founding member of the Safe Rubber Consortium, Robinson Brothers became committed to developing a safe alternative to Ethylene thiourea (ETU) for use during polychloroprene vulcanisation.

ETU has been found to have mutagenic or carcinogenic properties and has been added to the List of Substances of Very High Concern under the EU's REACH regulations. The project secured funding for the development of a safe, viable alternative to ETU under the prestigious EU Framework VII scheme, which rewards ideas that are designed to provide a "European-added value".

However, before it was possible to identify a replacement for ETU, it was necessary to gain a full understanding of how the mechanism works during the vulcanisation process of polychloroprene. To this end, Robinson Brothers utilised its existing long-standing relationships with educational institutions across the country to sponsor two PhD students, who gained their qualifications from nearby Aston University through this work.

Dr Keith Berry and Dr Nikki Pullan joined forces with Robinson's Robac team in order to determine how the mechanism works and begin proposing potential alternatives. This involved a dual approach encompassing spectroscopic studies and a more industrial method investigating the physical properties of polychloroprene rubber.

From here, the team was able to use model compounds with similar characteristics to ETU and began to assess the workings of the mechanism during vulcanisation. While there was some crossover between the pair's research, Dr Berry's findings centred on solid polychloroprene rubber, while Dr Pullan focussed on oligomers and their synthesis.

Both were awarded their PhDs on the back of the work they conducted during this period and the respective theses they submitted. Robinson Brothers rewarded both Dr Berry and Dr Pullan with an offer of full-time employment and while the former accepted, Dr Pullan opted to remain in academia.

Dr Berry's discoveries facilitated the development of Robac SRM102, and he was invited to present his findings at the RubberCon 2014 conference in Manchester, organised by IOM Communications. Furthermore, the paper he produced concerning the workings of the mechanism has been submitted to the distinguished Rubber Chemistry and Technology journal.

"Robinson Brothers put a lot of trust in me to be the face of the company and present at an international conference attended by a number of clients and competitors, which was very pleasing," Dr Berry explained, indicating other companies may have chosen to attribute the findings to a more senior chemist or member of the management team.

"It was a good experience for me and it'll help me further my career. I had attended conferences during my PhD, but they were very academic, whereas this was more commercial and there were a lot of real-world applications demonstrated."

Robinson Brothers regularly looks to provide opportunities for its staff to experience new aspects of the industry, often taking employees along to exhibitions such as RubberCon and Chemspec Europe, where they can witness how the products they develop impact on the wider market.

Following an extremely positive reception at RubberCon, Dr Berry has continued to work on the commercialisation of the Robac SRM102 product, which will be brought to market in the coming weeks. For more information, contact our Robac Technology team via [email protected]