DESIGNING RESIN- RUBBER SOLE COMPOUNDS FOR USE IN 

LOCAL SHOE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

R.R.M.S.K RANATUNGA . 

This thesis was submitted to the department of Chemical Engineering of 

University of Moratuwa in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the 

Degree of M.Sc. in Polymer Technology. 

University of Moratuwa 

77717 

Department of Chemical Engineering 

University of Moratuwa ^ M ^ o € ^ 1 ^ • 

Sri Lanka "7 "7 7 / 7 

February 2003. 

11111 ' v . 



II 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

I wish to thank the management of Arpitalian Compact Soles (Pvt) Ltd for giving me 

an opportunity to follow M.Sc course in Polymer Technology and also facilitating for 

me to conduct Research project. My sincere thanks should go to Mr. Kithsiri 

Wijesundara former General Manager of Arpitalian for encouraging me and granting 

leaves for the studies. 

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors Mr. K. Subramaniam, 

M.Sc. course Coordinator, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of 

Moratuwa and Mr. Wasantha Abeysirigunawardena, General Manager (Research and 

Development), Richard Pieris Export Ltd, for their relentless guidance and unflagging 

interest shown right throughout my research projects as well as course of study. 

My deep appreciation of the generous gesture of thanks goes out all my friends and 

colleagues who helped me in numerous ways in the field. 

I express my gratitude to Mr. S. K. Moragoda, for his sincere assistance given 

throughout my research project for carrying out all laboratory trials and preparing 

laboratory-testing reports. 

I owe gratitude to my loving wife and family members for their constant help 

extended to me in achieving the goal. 

Last, but not least. 1 wish to place on record my gratitude and thanks to all other staff 

of Arpitalian Compact Soles (Pvt) Ltd., too numerous to individually mention, for 

their assistance and encouragement rendered to me make this a success. 



I l l 

ABSTRACT 

Natural rubber and Reclaimed rubber based resin- rubber soling sheets compounded 

with various cheap rubber ingredients were made and evaluated in this work for their 

use in local shoe manufacturing industry'. 

In the experimental work, natural rubber and reclaimed rubber compounds formulated 

with different ingredients were prepared and moulded into sheets by compression 

moulding technique. The surfaces of the sheets were abraded and then crated with 

different flexible colour-paints. The painted (Coloured) sheets produced were then 

tested and evaluated for resin- rubber shoe sole sheets. 

The investigation reveals that the compounds containing the peptised natural rubber 

(SLR 20) and reclaimed rubber (DSI-Super fine grade) are found to be the most 

appropriate compounds for the production of resin-rubber soles in the local rubber 

industry. 



C O N T E N T S 

Acknowledgement II 

Abstract III 

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 

1.1 Introduction 2 
1.2 Major components of a shoe 3 

1.3 Aim of the project 4 

1.4 Method of approach and materials 4 

CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL REVIEW OF SOLING MATERIALS 

2.1 Historical review 6 

2.2 Shoe Soling Materials and their main features and applications 6 

2.3 World's Usage of soling materials 8 

2.4 Density of the soling materials 9 

2.5 Physical properties of standard resin soling 10 

2.6 Survey on resin rubber sole compounds used in Sri Lankan industries 12 

CHAPTER 3 EXPERIMENTAL 

3.1 Materials 19 

3.2 Choice of rubber compound formulation 25 

3.3 Methods employed 30 

3.4 Testing methods 34 

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

4.1 Results and discussion 39 

4.2 Conclusion 48 

4.3 Future work 49 

REFERENCES 50