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

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2019

Emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber silica wet masterbatch (ESBR silica WMB) technology was studied to develop highly filled and highly dispersed silica compounds, involving the preparation of a composite by co-coagulating the modified silica and the rubber latex in a liquid phase. Previous studies have shown that when manufacturing ESBR silica WMB/Butadiene silica dry masterbatch (BR silica DMB) blend compounds, preparing BR silica dry masterbatch and mixing it with ESBR silica WMB gave excellent results. However, WMB still has the problem of lower crosslink density due to residual surfactants. Therefore, in this study, tetrabenzylthiuram disulfide (TBzTD) was added instead of diphenyl guanidine (DPG) in the ESBR silica WMB/BR silica DMB blend compounds and sulfur/CBS contents were increased to evaluate their cure characteristics, crosslink densities, mechanical properties, and dynamic viscoelastic properties. TBzTD was found to be more effective in increasing the crosslink density and to produce superior properties compared to DPG. In addition, with increasing sulfur/CBS contents, mechanical properties and rolling resistance were enhanced due to high crosslink density, but the abrasion resistance was not significantly changed because of the toughness.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.297-302
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• 2016

Water-based systems are dominating the coating market because of worldwide VOCs regulations. Research is focusing especially on waterborne polyurethane (WPU) because of its unique mechanical and chemical properties. However, commercial WPU consists of linear thermoplastic polymers with polar groups on the main chain, which do not perform as well as solvent-borne PU in a two-pack system. In this study, APTES were used as a chain crosslink agent to overcome commercial WPU's limited performance. WPUs synthesized by using a sol-gel process were evaluated with FT-IR, particle analysis, TGA, tensile tests, pull-off tests, SEM, and EIS. The results showed that WPUs with added APTES had better thermal stability, mechanical properties, and water resistance than did WPUs without added APTES. Consequently, the sol-gel process increased the crosslink density of WPUs and modified the WPU's own properties.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.148-155
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• 2012

EPDM, IIR, and BIIR composites were thermally aged and the crosslink density changes were investigated. Crosslink densities of the EPDM composite increased with increasing the aging time and temperature, whereas those of IIR and BIIR composites for long-term aging at high temperatures tended to decrease. Activation energies for the crosslink density changes of the EPDM composite were higher than those of the BIIR one. The experimental results were explained with the number of allylic hydrogens, activation of the zinc complex, the steric hindrance effect, and oxidation of rubber chain.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2020

Wear particles of the model tread compounds for bus and truck tires were made using a laboratory abrasion tester and characterized based on their size distributions, shapes, and crosslink densities. The influence of the carbon black contents and rubber compositions (NR= 100 and NR/BR= 80/20) on the production of wear particles was investigated. The wear particles were separated according to size using a sieve shaker. The shape properties of the wear particles were analyzed using an image analyzer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Their shapes were observed as tiny stick cookies or sausages with bumpy surfaces. The particle size distribution tended to be smaller with increasing carbon black content. Moreover, the particle size distributions of the NR = 100 samples were larger than that of the NR/BR blend samples. There were different filaments in the wear particles. The filament diameters tended to be thinner with increasing carbon black content. The crosslink density increased with increasing carbon black content, and the crosslink densities of the NR= 100 samples were lower than those of the NR/BR blend ones. The particle size distribution tended to be smaller with increasing crosslink density. Based on the experimental results, the wear particles can be produced by detaching debris from the main body through repetitive strain and recovery.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.237-244
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• 2011

Five natural rubber (NR) composites with different reinforcing systems of unfilled, carbon black, carbon black with silane coupling agent, silica, and silica with silane coupling agent were thermally aged and change of the crosslink densities by the accelerated thermal aging was investigated. The crosslink densities on the whole increased as the aging time elapsed irrespective of the reinforcing systems. The crosslink density changes became noticeable by increasing the aging temperature. For carbon black-filled composites, the silane coupling agent made the crosslink density change to be increased. For silica-filled composites, however, the silane coupling agent made the crosslink density increment reduced at 60 and $70^{\circ}C$ and it hardly affect the degree of the crosslink density change at 80 and $90^{\circ}C$. The activation energies for the crosslink density changes of the carbon black-filled samples increased continuously in a logarithmic fashion, whereas that of the silica-filled one showed a quasi-steady state ranges at aging times of 30-150 days. The activation energy of the unfilled sample increased exponentially with the aging time. The experimental results were explained with sulfur donation from the silane coupling agent, surface modification of the filler by the silane coupling agent, adsorption of curative residues on the silica surface, and release of the adsorbed curative residues.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 1991

cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum(II)(CDDP), an antitumor drug, did not generate crosslink between bluetongue virus (BTV) capsid protein at moderate concentration. Cesium chloride density gradient centrifugation study revealed that protein-RNA crosslink was not detectable in CDDP treated BTV. CDDP treated BTV ds RNA showed remarkable change in the migration pattern in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These results suggest that the reduction of BTV core associated transcriptase activity is most likely by the CDDP adduction to the genomic ds RNA rather than by the protein-RNA crosslink and/or protein-protein cross-link.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2015

Polybutadiene rubber (BR) has been well known that its physical and chemical properties are changed when it is exposed to ultraviolet light undergoing photooxidation. In this study, photooxdiation process of BR vulcanizate was investigated using a high pressure mercury lamp used as an outdoor lighting, which has high UV radiation efficiency and reasonable cost. Discoloration and crack formation of photooxdized BR vulcanite surface were examined using an image analyzer. Change of chemical functional groups of BR vulcanite surface by photooxidation was investigated using ATR-FTIR, and variation of the crosslink density with the UV irradiation time was investigated. By increasing the UV irradiation time, the crosslink density steeply increased after a period of time and did not increase any more. Formation of hydroxyl (~OH) and carbonyl (~C=O) groups on the BR vulcanizate surface increased and the1,4-cis unit was converted to the 1,4-trans unit as the photooxidation was proceeded.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.288-293
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• 2013

Crosslink characteristics of maleic anhydride-grafted EPDM (MAH-g-EPDM)/zinc oxide composite were investigated by weight losses after dichloroacetic acid (DCA)/toluene cosolvent extraction at different temperatures and by measurement of crosslink densities. The chemical changes were analyzed using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The weight losses by extraction at high temperature ($90^{\circ}C$) were remarkably greater than those at room temperature and those by DCA/toluene cosolvent extraction were greater than those by toluene one by more than 5 times. The crosslink densities were measured after the solvent extraction, and the second crosslink densities were higher than the first ones. The first crosslink density was lower when the extraction temperature was high, and it was much lower for the toluene extraction than for the DCA/toluene cosolvent extraction. The second crosslink density of the sample extracted with DCA/toluene cosolvent was greater than that extracted with toluene. The extracted components were depending on the extraction solvents and temperatures, for example; only strong crosslinked networks were remained when extracting with DCA/toluene cosolvent at high temperature, while only uncrosslinked polymer chains were extracted when extracting with toluene at room temperature. Therefore, crosslink characteristics of the MAH-g-EPDM/zinc oxide composite can be analyzed by comparison of the extracted components according to the extraction solvents and temperatures and by measurement of successive crosslink densities.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2019

The rapid development of the automobile industry is an important factor that led to the dramatic development of synthetic rubber. The tread part of tire that comes in direct contact with the road surface is related to the service life of the tire. Rubber compounds used in tire treads are often blended with SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber) and BR (butadiene rubber) to satisfy physical property requirements. However, when two or more kinds of rubber are blended, phase separation and silica dispersion problems may occur due to non-uniform mixing of the rubber. Therefore, in this study, we synthesized an SBR copolymer with the same composition as that of a typical SBR/BR blend compound by controlling butadiene content during ESBR (emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber) synthesis. Subsequently, silica filled compounds were manufactured using the synthesized ESBR, and their mechanical properties, dynamic viscoelasticity, and crosslinking density were compared with those of the SBR/BR blended compound. When the content of butadiene was increased in the silica filled compound, the cure rate accelerated due to an increased number of allylic positions, which typically exhibit higher reactivity. However, the T-2 compound with increased butadiene content by synthesis less likely to show an increase in crosslink density due to poor silica dispersion. In addition, the T-3 compound containing high cis BR content showed high crosslink density due to its monosulfide crosslinking structure. Because of the phase separation, SBR/BR blend compounds were easily broken and showed similar $M_{100%}$ and $M_{300%}$ values as those of other compounds despite their high crosslink density. However, the developed blend showed excellent abrasion resistance due to the high cis-1,4 butadiene content and low rolling resistance due to the high crosslink density.