Investigation of Palm Oil as Green Plasticizer on the Processing and Mechanical Properties of Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Rubber

The objective of this study was to explore palm oil (PMO) as a green/renewable plasticizer for ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber; for comparison, the commonly used plasticizer of petroleum-based paraffin oil (PO) was also investigated. The plasticization effects of PMO and PO on EPDM rubber compounds were systematically studied; in specific, the Mooney viscosity, processing properties, and cross-linking characteristics of EPDM rubber compounds with different loading amounts of plasticizer (i.e., PMO or PO) were characterized, and the mechanical properties and thermal stability of cross-linked EPDM rubber compounds were also evaluated. The results indicated that the performance/effect of PMO on processing and mechanical properties of EPDM rubber was similar/comparable to that of PO, whereas PMO is renewable with lower cost. Therefore, PMO would be a cost-effective green plasticizer that could replace PO for EPDM rubber.