• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.442-446
• /
• 2009

Recovery behaviors of unfilled NR, BR, and SBR vulcanizates after aging with a circular deformation were compared to prevent the influence of reinforcing agent. Samples were aged at room temperature, 50, 70, and $90^{\circ}C$ for 10 days. Recovery increased by increasing the measurement time. Instantaneous recoveries less than 1.0 sec were obtained using the recovery variations with the measurement time. For aging at room temperature, difference in the recoveries of the rubber samples was not significant because the aging time was too short. However, for accelerated thermal aging at 50, 70, and $90^{\circ}C$, difference in the recoveries of the rubber samples was significant. Degree of recovery of BR specimen was higher than those of the others, while that of SBR was lowest. However, for accelerated thermal aging at $90^{\circ}C$, recovery of the NR sample was higher than that of the BR one. The initial recovery decreased by increasing the aging temperature and the decrement of SBR was larger than the others. The experimental results were explained with the resilience properties of rubbers and the crosslink density changes by thermal aging.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.143-150
• /
• 2007

Hardness of rubbery materials, which is important for dimensional stability and product performance, was investigated upon temperature change in this study. A newly developed IRHD (International Rubber Hardness Degree) tester was used to measure the hardness changes of NR and SBR specimens at various temperatures and the hardness values were compared with the Young's modulus. The harness and Young's modulus of NR and SBR showed an abrupt change near the glass transition temperatures. The hardness and Young's modulus were increased by increasing temperature due to the increased random chain conformation of molecules. The effect of temperature on hardness and Young's modulus of NR and SBR specimens filled with carbon black and silica was decreased by increasing filler content.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2009

In this study, for a radiator hose made of carbon black filled EPDM(ethylene-propylene diene monomer) rubber, a measuring method of crosslink density was established to analyze the aging behaviors under thermo-oxidative stresses. At $125^{\circ}C$, the crosslink density of the rubber specimens decreased slightly in the initial stage, but increased with increasing the aging time. Such variation in crosslink density was similar to that of tensile strength. This might be due to the formation of sulphoxide crosslinks as well as to additional crosslinks made by the reaction of unvalcunized sulfurs. A high temperature aging of rubber specimens at $180^{\circ}C$ caused a slight increase in crosslink density while it did a large decrease in tensile strength and elongation. With aging at high temperature, the formation of carbonyl groups in EPDM molecule chain and formation of sulphoxide crosslink, rather than the crosslink density variation itself, had a large influence on such changes in mechanical property.