The morphology and property of ultra-fine full-vulcanized acrylonitrile butadiene rubber particles/EPDM blends

A novel UFNBRP/EPDM blend was prepared by compounding ultra-fine full-vulcanized acrylonitrile butadiene rubber particles (UFNBRP) with ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) matrix. The morphology, dynamic property, and curing property of the blend were discussed in detail. TEM and SEM observations showed that, no matter how high the blend ratio of UFNBRP to EPDM matrix was, UFNBRP particles always kept being in the dispersion phase because of its extremely high viscosity resulting from self-crosslinking, but were not dispersed as nanosize units, as expected. Dynamic properties, illustrated by DMTA, further demonstrated that two phases exhibited two separate glass transition temperatures, indi eating distinct phase separation and weak phase interaction. Rubber processing analyzer results showed that inorganic filler as well as UFNBRP particles in EPDM matrix formed a network and blocked the flow properties of the compound. At the same time, the introduction of UFNBRP particles evidently affected the vulcanization of EPDM, when sulfur was used as a vulcanizing agent, and improved the mechanical properties of EPDM.