Population and economy’s growth have increased the use of vehicles: their production augments constantly, amounting to 100 million units per year in 2018 (International Monetary Fund 2019), and they are responsible for demanding high quantities of tires whose fabrication reached 1626 million units in 2018 (Zare Mehrjerdi and Shafiee 2020), turning ELTs management into a decisive environmental issue. Despite research and regulation on their disposal, enormous volumes of this waste are stored untreated in landfills and stockpiles, especially in developing countries, becoming a threat to the environment and public health (Valentini and Pegoretti 2022). Above all, sustainable options for ELTs management are reuse, retread, recycle, and energy recovery. However, when tires cannot be reused in vehicles, they constitute waste, and the treatment options are recycling and recovery (Shulman 2011) for example to improve the rheological performance of modified asphalt (Leng et al. 2018).
In tire design and manufacturing, properties such as wear resistance, performance in harsh conditions, and high durability are relevant parameters that make it hard to manage used tires and their waste, representing an environmental hazard (Dabic-Miletic et al. 2021). The complexity varies depending on vehicle size, load unit, material, and production processes (Jovanović et al. 2014). So, it is pivotal to undertake a comprehensive review of the tire production process to achieve a sustainable circular economy, aiming to reduce the amount and variety of waste considering its lasting and nonbiodegradable materials (Ghai et al. 2022). During the tire design phase, it is suggested to bear in mind its entire life cycle so that parts can be recovered, reused, and disposed of.
Recycling used tires into raw materials (rubber, textile fibers, and steel) represents an opportunity and a challenge in the circular economy of tire management. Recycled rubber can be used in different engineering applications, such as tire-derived fuel by pyrolysis, civil engineering solutions, devulcanized rubber for new tire molded objects, and rubber-modified asphalt (Dabic-Miletic et al. 2021). In the recycling process of ELTs’ materials, tires must be collected, transported to facilities for shredding, and then separated into their components. In the first step, since the tires are very bulky, transporting them is difficult; therefore, a possible alternative solution for ELTs’ hauling is to pre-cut tires at the collection points. It reduces the size and facilitates transportation.
In addition, the transfer contributes to pollutants and greenhouse gasses, as the collection points are far from treatment facilities (Nowakowski and Król 2021). The cost of scrap tire collection is greatly influenced by the number of shipments and routes required, making it a critical factor in total costs. When collecting ELTs over short distances, it is paramount to use vehicles that can carry the minimum logistical load of tires. In some cases, large-capacity commercial vehicles may be necessary (Nowakowski and Król 2021). Therefore, preprocessing of the ELTs with cutting, packing, and baling is suitable for reducing the overall collection and transportation costs and minimizing the negative environmental impact of exhaust emissions.
Moreover, the cutting force is a factor that significantly influences the ease and accuracy of the tire pre-cutting process at collection points. Understanding cutting force is imperative as it enables the development of advanced recycling technologies and specialized equipment capable of efficiently handling ELTs. However, the literature regarding the cutting of these polymeric composite materials gathers little research. Results in neoprene and nitrile materials with normal force and sliding motion showed that the resistance to cutting of a material when a sharp object slides over it and exerts a normal force depends on the coefficient of friction (Vu Thi et al. 2005). Spagnoli et al. (2019) performed tests with different blade inclination angles and measured the cutting force. The results revealed that the increase in the angle decreases the cutting force, but this hypothesis still needs to be confirmed with greater angles. The sharpness of the tool used in the polymer cutting is a necessary variable and one of the main terms in the total applied force, and it determines the reduction of the amount of energy lost due to frictional dissipation. Regarding this, McCarthy et al. (2007) derived a quantitative index of blade sharpness through indentation tests on soft solids. They found that the condition of sharpness of the blade's cutting edge defines the indentation depth before cutting. This property leads to the Blade Sharpness Index (BSI), which is independent from the target material and the cutting rate and only related to the blade. Furthermore, using an implicit finite element model, they proved the effect of tip radius, wedge angle, and blade profile on the BSI, seeing that all these variables affect it, where the tip radius effect is more significant (McCarthy et al. 2010).
Also, the finite element method has been extended and used to analyze all kinds of phenomena, including the cutting process. In this case, it has been popular the use of explicit dynamics to simulate metal cutting. For example, Shih, (1995) simulated the material deformation during the cutting process including various factors such as elasticity, viscoplasticity, temperature, large strain, and high strain-rate effects to accurately capture the behavior of the material under these conditions. Also Özel, (2003) examined through the use of practical finite element (FE) simulations and high-speed orthogonal cutting tests the impact of edge preparation on cubic boron nitride (CBN) cutting tools. Adidionally Guo et al. (2009) in a review of the characteristics of residual stresses in machining processes performs a critical assess of the numerical modelling metal cut process using finite element method. On the other hand, the rubber cutting process has been scarcely simulated. Related to this issue, Yan and Strenkowski, (2006) developed an explicit plain strain finite element model to evaluate the orthogonal cutting of rubber using high-speed steel tools. They employed the neo-Hookean constitutive model for the hyperelastic material, predicting cutting forces, chip shape, stress and strain fields, and strain energy distribution in the chip and workpiece.
In this study, explicit 3D finite element simulations are used to evaluate several shapes of blade profiles and find the most efficient one for the required cutting force on the rubber tread material of a wasted tire. Two of these profiles (with different performances) were fabricated and tested experimentally to validate the numerical simulation's effectiveness.