Rubber!

This past week in the lab, we've been experimenting with crumb rubber and mulch rubber, which are commonly found in turfs and playgrounds--often in 90+ degree heat.

We have been doing "jar experiments," where we place a small sample of either crumb rubber or mulch rubber in a weigh boat, and then we place that weigh boat in a large glass jar. The jar goes in a machine that will bring the temperature up to 50ºC and then back down to 20ºC over and over again, which is meant to simulate the different days that the rubber would be exposed to the summer heat. During this process, we have been attaching small QTBX tubes, which have four layers of increasing absorption, and the particles that are emitting from the rubber will get stuck in the tubes.

After experimentation, we have also been doing data analysis, which involves a lot of googling of strange compounds; we use a program that will take the data collected from the jar experiments and show us visually the results: the structure of each compound detected, the chemical formula, and much more. We have been comparing these results to that of a blank/standard tube and seeing which compounds are out of place, and also comparing the two samples to each other and seeing similarities between the different rubbers.

So far, we have found several alarming compounds being emitted from these rubber samples, which include: a food additive that is dangerous to ingest, a paint/solvent that is harmful to skin that's used on children's toys; and a couple carcinogenic compounds, one of which is also used in food.

I'm excited to continue research and see what else we discover in these samples!