Kannaporn Pooput. A study to improve oil and thermo-oxidative resistances of natural rubber by blending with acrylic rubber . Master's Degree(Polymer Science and Technology). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2004.
A study to improve oil and thermo-oxidative resistances of natural rubber by blending with acrylic rubber
Abstract:
Rubber blends are commonly used in the rubber industry. Most rubber blends separate
into two phases, with the major component usually forming the continuous phase and the
minor component developing into the dispersed phase. Properties of the blends depend upon
the morphological structure, which can be altered through changing the ratios of the
component rubbers and through changing the viscosity of each during mastication and mixing
by varying conditions such as rotor speed, duration and temperature and by use of additives.
The main purpose of this thesis was to determine ways to improve the oil and heat resistance
of natural rubber by altering its structure.
First I attempted to lower viscosities by varying masticating conditions and by using
additives. Through varying rotor speeds and mixing temperatures during mastication in the
internal mixer, the viscosity of acrylic rubber could be lowered, but not that of natural rubber.
In testing three additives – liquid nitrile rubber, dioctyl phthalate and acrylate monomer – Tg
data indicated that none of them could lower the viscosity of natural rubber, while, for acrylic
rubber, acrylate monomer was the most effective.
In tests in which increasing amounts of acrylate monomer – up to 18 parts per hundred –
were added to the 50/50 blend acrylic rubber, continuous phase increased and the percent of
oil swell decreased (22 % at the highest level of additive) with each increase in additive.
In the blend study – testing natural rubber, acrylic rubber, and blends of 25/75, 50/50, and
75/25 – the blend that contained the highest ratio of natural rubber and still maintained
adequate oil resistance (with a 25% oil swell) was the 25/75 natural/acrylic blend.
In order for acrylic rubber to form a continuous phase in a 50/50 blend, its viscosity must
be lower than that of the natural rubber in the blend, and the greater the continuous phase the
higher the oil resistance. Hence, in my study, increasing natural/acrylic viscosity ratios of 2/1,
1/1 and 1/1.5 resulted in increasing oil swells of 32%, 66% and 106%. Greater continuous
phase was indicated by atomic force microscopy micrographs. Testing of 60/40 and 75/25
natural/acrylic blends with the superior natural/acrylic viscosity ratio of 2/1 revealed 55% and
70% oil swells, respectively, indicating a higher oil swell for the higher natural rubber blend.
In this study it was found that the oil and heat resistance could be improved by
controlling the morphology of rubber blends in many ways, in particular through the
adjustment of rubber viscosities.