Compound Composition

and Fender Performance

A typical fendering system

Steel panel
with PE facing

Rubber
block fender

Why Fender?
Day to day berthing operations: Absorbs energy from berthing vessels
Long term: Protects the berthing structure and vessels during abnormal /
hostile berthing or mooring situations
Common Misconceptions

Steel is a more critical component than rubber

Fenders are a commodity: selection requires little technical knowledge

Low cost fenders do the same job as good quality fenders

Suppliers always provide the quality specified and paid for

Background
Low cost fenders are in use, due to:

Lack of knowledge about the production process

Lack of understanding about compound quality and its impact on
performance and longevity

Current test methods/specifications and quality control (QC)
practices are unable to establish fender quality

No tool is currently available to test the quality of commercial fenders
Testing Rubber Composition

Its assumed that low cost fenders are

good enough, so its safe to procure on
the basis of upfront cost.

We investigated the composition of fenders

from ports around the world.

Findings:

Compound variability
Differences in physical appearance
Deterioration due to inferior compound
composition
How do fenders work?

Rubber absorbs kinetic energy by elastic

deformation - it is the essence of the fender
system

Unique set of rubber properties:

Quickly recovery after compression

Tough under static and dynamic stress

High abrasion resistance

Resistant to seawater

Chemical resistance

Bonds with different fabrics and metal
Types of raw rubber

Natural
Rubber

Virgin rubber, pure

rubber, raw rubber

Synthetic
Raw
Rubber
Rubber (SBR)

Mixture of 40-50%
Reclaimed rubber and other rubbish
Rubber (contaminated material)
Rubber compound
Fenders can not
be produced
from raw rubber
Natural
Rubber

Synthetic
Rubber
(SBR)

Rubber Fender
Reclaimed Compound
Rubber
 Rubber compound

Natural
Rubber

Fillers and
Reclaimed
Rubber chemicals

Synthetic
Rubber Rubber
(SBR)
Compound

Natural: good mechanical properties but mechanical properties drop with heat, age, oxygen, O3
Synthetic: helps counter the drop in mechanical properties of natural rubber
Recycled: cost reduction, physical properties are lower than virgin rubber
Chemicals to make rubber compound

Raw rubber is weak: tensile strength ~ 4-5mpa

A minimum tensile strength of 13-16mpa is needed in fenders

Raw rubber + carbon black (filler) = Increased tensile strength + UV resistance

Oil is used
to mix
filler with
Reinforcing fillers Vs Non-reinforcing filler (Caco 3)
rubber
Antioxidants
Raw rubber + carbon black (filler) + oil + antioxidants

Protect rubber from ozone, oxygen, heat, aging etc

(protect from chemical damage)

Rubber goods thus obtained will be short of required

hardness and de-shaped under heat and stress

Soft materials need curing / vulcanization

Curatives: Sulphur (S)

Raw rubber + carbon black (filler) + oil + antioxidants + sulphur + accelerator
Heat and Pressure

Commercial rubber fenders

An easy way to reduce cost
Raw rubber + all the above chemicals = rubber compound

Natural Rubber cost + filler cost = compound cost + manufacturing

Rubber cost = fender cost

Synthetic
Rubber
(SBR)

Chemicals Rubber Fender

Reclaimed Compound
Rubber
Recipe for high quality fenders

Ingredients %
Antioxidant
Raw Rubber(Polymer) 40-45
Filler (Reinforcing) 30-40
Vulcanization Oil (functional additives) 20-10
Accelerator Others (S + ACC etc) 10-5
(Sulphur)
Total 100

Function Additive

Carbon black

Filler (Reinforcement)

Natural rubber synthetic rubber

Polymer

Compounding Structure
Superior Vs Inferior compound

Superior Inferior
More rubber and less filler Less rubber and more filler

Rubber: filler > 1.00 Rubber: filler < 1.00

No/low % recycled rubber High % of recycled rubber

Low/no non-reinforcing white filler (CaCo3), less High % of white filler (CaCo3), more
ash ash

Density < 1.20 Density > 1.20

Standard physical properties: no change
Property Testing standard Condition Requirement

DIN 53504; ASTM D 412 Die C; Original 16.0 Mpa (min)

Tensile Stregth
AS 1180.2; BS ISO 37; JIS K 6251 Aged for 96 hours at 70C 12.8 Mpa (min)

Elongation at DIN 53504; ASTM D 412 Die C; Original 350%

Break AS 1180.2; BS ISO 37; JIS K 6251 Aged for 96 hours at 70C 280%
Original 78 Shore A (max)
Hardness DIN 53505; ASTM D 2240; AS1683.15.2; JIS K 6253
Aged for 96 hours at 70C Original +8 Shore A (max)
ASTM D 395 Method B; AS 1683.13 Method B;
Compression Set 22 hours at 70C 30% (max)
BS903 A6; ISO 815; JIS K 6262
ASTM D 624 Die B; AS 1683.12; BS ISO 34-1;
Tear Resistance Original 70kN/m (min)
JIS K 6252
DIN 53509; ASTM D 1149; AS 1683-24; BS ISO 50pphm at 20% strain,
Ozone Resistance No cracks
1431-1; JIS K 6259 40C, 100 hours
Seawater Hardness: 10 Shore A
BS ISO 1817; ASTM D 471 28 days at 95C
Resistance (max) Volume: +10/-5% (max)
ASTM D5963-04; BS ISO 4649 : 2002 Original 100mm3 (max)
Abrasion
BS903 A9, Method B 3000 revolutions 1.5cc (max)
Bond Strength ASTM D429, Method B; BS 903.A21 Section 21.1 Rubber to steel 7N/mm (min)
Dynamic Fatigue ASTM D430-95, Method B 15,000 cycles Grade 0-1
Current QC practice

Physical tests are conducted on rubber compounds and not on the final product

Physical property tests are conducted at the manufacturers laboratory before or

after the fenders are built and cured

Test certificates are produced based on lab test results

Element of doubt whether test compounds and production compounds are the
same or not

Not easy to prepare test samples from the commercial fenders without
destroying them
Why do we need superior rubber compound?

Factory test
performance

Application Performance
at extreme Rubber in the actual
temperatures Quality application
(TF) (VF)

Longevity
Rubber quality and factory test performance
Superior compound Inferior compound
Repeatable performance achieved Low performance: as low as
when tested in the factory at 1mm/s 50%
speed
Recovery after compression Slow recovery after
or compression set is low compression

Factory test conducted at 1mm/s compression speed

Actual berthing happens at 50-500mm/s
Berthing speed performance

Berthing speed has a large impact on fender performance

Reaction force is strain rate (compression time) dependent

Fenders should be tested at actual berthing speeds to determine true

performance

Testing commercial fenders at high speeds is extremely difficult due to a lack of

suitable equipment

To compensate, the concept of Velocity Factor was introduced by PIANC

Berthing speed performance

VF is greatly affected by two factors:

Compression time

Type of rubber used in the formulation

The lower the compression time, the higher the VF

100% NR fender = small VF

100% SBR fender = high VF
Why do we need superior rubber compounds?

Factory test
performance

Application Superior Performance

at extreme in the actual
temperatures
Rubber
application
(TF) Compound (VF)

Longevity
Samples chosen for longevity testing
Two samples were chosen for testing:
20% recycled rubber
75% recycled rubber

The Arrhenius relationship

Given by the equation: Where:
C: Log A
------------- (1) K(T): the reaction rate
E: activation energy
R: Gas Constant
Taking logarithm in both sides of the equation T: Absolute temperature
A and C: Constants
Log K(T) = Log A

Log K(T) = C ------------- (2)

Findings
40C 40C

30C 30C

20C 20C

Predicted Predicted
life cycle life cycle

Rubber compounds with Rubber compounds with

20% recycled rubber 75% recycled rubber

The fender with low recycled rubber has a lifecycle almost 10 times longer at 20c

Rubber composition is crucial in determining the longevity of the fender

Application at extreme temperatures (TF)

Fender testing is usually done at 23 + 5 C

If actual working temperature varies from the testing temperature,
performance varies substantially

Temperature Factor (TF) accommodates the difference

TF is highly sensitive to:

Type of rubber used

Percentage of rubber (100% NR, 100% SBR, NR/SBR/reclaimed
rubber blend)
Compound compostion is the key
Challenge

Rubber composition must be defined to design

a risk free system for a long service life

Steel is specified well and tested against specification using samples from
the final product

Determining the composition of rubber compound is not practiced or
specified

Analytical tool (DNA test)

Compares high and low quality fenders

Confirms quality prior to delivery

Only a small sample is needed
Testing

Step 1: Selection of fenders for testing Step 2: Collection of rubber blocks

A low cost commercial sized (600mm height) Rubber block of 150mm L x 135mm W x
cone fender from a low cost supplier 30mm T cut from the fender body
A high quality fender of the same size
Testing

Step 3: Slicing thin sheets Step 4: Punching of samples

A 30mm thick rubber block was sliced to Samples were punched from the 2mm rubber
sheets of 2mm thickness sheets using an ASTM D412 standard
specified die

Slice or Cut sample

Testing

Step 5: Chemical analysis of sample

About 50gms of rubber sample cut out separately from the

block and sliced into small pieces, underwent chemical
analysis

Testing equipment

FTIR TGA
What we intend to determine

Four components in rubber

Antioxidant formulation:

Rubber % and type

Vulcanization Filler %
Accelerator Ash % (Caco3 by chemical analysis)
(Sulphur) Oil %

Function Additive

Carbon black

Filler (Reinforcement)

Natural rubber synthetic rubber

Polymer

Compound Structure
Physical property requirements given in the contract

Properties Test standard Min. requirement

Tensile strength ASTM D412 16mpa

Elongation at break ASTM D412 350%

Chemical analysis: What we found

Test Standard High Quality Low Cost Requirement

Density (g/cc) ISO 2781 1.15 1.29 Not specified

Hardness (shore A) ASTM D2240 67 71 Max. 78

Tensile Strength (Mpa) ASTM D2240 15.4 9.3 15.2-13.6 (Note)
Elongation @ Break (%) ASTM D2240 364 278 297-333 (Note)

Note: Study indicated properties are 15% less when samples taken from product
Chemical analysis: What we found

Test Standard High Quality Low Cost Low Cost

Polymer % ASTM D6370 46 42.6 43.3

Carbon Black % ASTM D6370 33.5 26.9 22.7

Ash % ASTM D297 3.7 21.5 21.2

Caco3 % ASTM D4004 0.49 15.54 13.27

Polymer Type ASTM D3677 NR:SBR(65:35) NR:SBR(60:40) NR (100%)

Rubber/filler 1.23 0.88 0.98

Two important indicators of quality

Rubber: filler ratio: ideal for fenders is >1.2
Density: Should be less than 1.20, higher value indicates:
Polymer/filler samples from Cone fender
(Australian Port)
Less than 1.2 Poor quality
2.5

1.5

0.5

0
High Quality Low cost supplier (USA) Low cost
supplier (China)
Polymer/filler samples from Cell fender
(Australian Port)
Less than 1.2 Poor quality
1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
Low cost supplier High quality supplier
(Japan) (Japan)
Density samples from Cone fender
(Australian Port)
More than 1.2 Poor quality

1.35

1.30

1.25

1.20

1.15

1.10

1.05

1.00
High Quality Supplier Low cost Low cost
supplier supplier
(USA) (China)
Density samples from Cell fender
(Australian Port)
More than 1.2 Poor quality
1.30

1.28

1.26

1.24

1.22

1.20

1.18

1.16

1.14

1.12
Low cost supplier (Japan) High quality supplier (Japan)
New specification
Polymer chemical quality compostion

Test Standard Specification

Density ISO 2781 Max 1.20 g/cc

Polymer % ASTM D6370 Min. 45%

Carbon Black% ASTM D6370 Min 30%

Ash% ASTM D297 Max 5%

Rubber filler ratio >1.2

Proposed test procedure for chemical analysis:
Before production

Supplier to supply a tensile slab
(150mm L x 150mm W x 2+2mm T)

Tensile slab will be sent to 3rd party
laboratory to carry out the chemical
analysis using TGA and FTIR
After production

The client or the 3rd party will
inspect fenders and randomly
select one or two for sampling

50 grams of sample will be cut and
sent to 3rd party laboratory for
testing of the above parameters

Test result should satisfy the
specification. If not, all fenders will
be rejected. A second sample may
be considered to confirm the test
results
The ultimate tri-lemma

Performance
(today)

Performance at cheap price, Performance and quality, it

forget rubber quality wont be cheap

Cheap If you assume you are buying Rubber quality

good rubber at cheap price, (service life)
forget performance