JURNAL TEKNOLOGI PROSES DAN INOVASI INDUSTRI, VOL. 5, NO.
1, JULI 2020
The Effect of Compatibilizer on the Mechanical
Properties and Compression Set of NBR/EPDM
Composite
Pengaruh Kompatibiliser pada Sifat Mekanik dan Set Kompresi dari Komposit NBR/EPDM
Hesty Eka Mayasari
Center of Industrial Research and Standardization of Surabaya
Ministry of Industry, Jl. Jagir Wonokromo 360
Surabaya, Indonesia 60244
hesty.ekamayasari@yahoo.com
Abstract
The mechanical properties of the materials are important to
be studied to get the usage information of the material. The
NBR/EPDM (Nitrile Butadiene Rubber/Ethylene Propylene
Diene Rubber) composite is widely used as seal, gasket, and hose
because of their excellent properties. This research used
compatibilizer in the blending process of NBR/EPDM. This
research aimed to study the effect of some compatibilizer on the
mechanical properties and compression set of the NBR/EPDM
composite. The compatibilizers used in this research were
methyl-methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS), montmorillonite
(MMT), and silica. The hardness, tensile strength, elongation at
break, tear strength, and compression set of the composites were
studied using hardness tester, tensile strength tester, and
compression set tester. The research showed that
montmorillonite as compatibilizer gave the best hardness, tensile
strength, tear strength, elongation, and compression set. The
aging increased the hardness and the compression set of
NBR/EPDM. However, the aging decreased the tensile strength,
tear strength, and elongation at break of NBR/EPDM.
Montmorillonite was a suitable compatibilizer for improving the
mechanical properties and compression set of NBR/EPDM
composite.
Keywords: NBR/EPDM, mechanical properties,
compression set, montmorillonite, compatibilizer
Abstrak
Sifat mekanis dari suatu material penting untuk dipelajari
untuk mendapatkan informasi penggunaan material tersebut.
Komposit NBR/EPDM (Nitril Butadiena Rubber/Etilen Propilen
Diene Rubber) banyak digunakan sebagai sil, gasket, dan selang
karena sifatnya yang sangat baik. Dalam penelitian ini digunakan
kompatibiliser dalam proses pencampuran NBR/EPDM. Tujuan
dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mempelajari pengaruh beberapa
kompatibiliser pada sifat mekanik komposit NBR/EPDM.
Kompatibiliser yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metil-
metakrilat-butadiena-stirena (MBS), montmorillonit (MMT), dan
silika. Kekerasan, kekuatan tarik, perpanjangan putus, kekuatan
sobek, dan kompresi komposit dipelajari dengan alat uji kekerasan,
27
Agung Yanuar Wirapraja
Center of Industrial Research and Standardization of Surabaya
Ministry of Industry, Jl. Jagir Wonokromo 360
Surabaya, Indonesia 60244
agungyanuar1945@gmail.com
alat uji kekuatan tarik, dan alat uji kompresi. Penelitian ini
menunjukkan bahwa montmorillonite sebagai kompatibiliser
memberikan kekerasan, kekuatan tarik, kekuatan sobek,
perpanjangan putus, dan kompresi yang terbaik. Pengaruh
penuaan memberikan peningkatan nilai kekerasan dan set
kompresi. Namun pengaruh penuaan memberikan penurunan
kekuatan tarik, kekuatan sobek, dan perpanjangan putus.
Montmorillonite adalah kompatibiliser yang sesuai untuk
meningkatkan sifat mekanik dan kompresi komposit NBR/EPDM.
Kata kunci: NBR/EPDM, sifat mekanik, set kompresi,
montmorillonit, kompatibiliser
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, the rubber blend is an interesting topic for
researchers to be studied because of their excellent properties.
However, rubber blending needs special attention because each
rubber has different characteristics. The difference in
solubilities and polarities can make an incompatible blend that
can lead to the poor mechanical properties of the composite [1].
The compatibilizer is needed in the blending process to get a
compatible and homogeneous blend [2].
NBR/EPDM (Nitrile Butadiene Rubber/ Ethylene
Propylene Diene Rubber blend) composite is widely used in
our lives for seal, gasket, and hose because it has good
resistance to oil and heat. NBR is a synthetic rubber that has
excellent oil, abrasion, and solvent resistance, but it has poor
resistance to heat and ozone [3]. EPDM is a synthetic rubber
that has excellent resistance to ozone and heat [4] [5]. NBR and
EPDM have a large enough solubility difference. The NBR’s
solubility parameter is 21.2 MPa1/2 and the EPDM’s solubility
parameter is 16.7 MPa1/2. The addition of compatibilizer can
give a compatible NBR/EPDM blend [3]. The compatibilizers
used are methyl-methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS) [6],
montmorillonite (MMT) [7], and silica [8] that had been used
before by the previous researcher.
The material’s characteristics must be studied to know
optimum usage and storage. Incorrect use and storage can
cause material easily damaged. Mechanical properties are the
main aspects that determine the use of material. This research
JURNAL TEKNOLOGI PROSES DAN INOVASI INDUSTRI, VOL. 5, NO. 1, JULI 2020
will study the hardness, tensile strength, elongation at break, PEG 0 0 0 0 0 0.1
tear strength, and the compression set of the composites. The
Paraffinic Oil 10 10 10 10 10 10
accelerated aging experiments are also done in this research.
The accelerated aging experiments aim to get information Paraffinic Wax 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
about the mechanical properties of composite after being used 6 PPD 5 5 5 5 5 5
at a certain time.
There are some previous studies about NBR/ EPDM MBTS 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
composite. Jovanovic et al. studied the effect of carbon black CBS 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
on NBR/EPDM [3], Mayasari et al. studied the effect of zeolite
as substitute filler on NBR/EPDM [9], Kaizer et al. studied the Sulfur 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
effect of nanoclay on NBR/EPDM [1]. But based on the *phr: part per hundred resin
authors' knowledge, there is no specific research about the *N10E0=NBR100/EPDM0; N0E10=NBR0/EPDM100; N5E5=NBR50/EPDM50;
N5E5M=NBR50/EPDM50/MBS, N5E5MMT=NBR50/EPDM50/MMT,
effect of compatibilizer on the mechanical properties of NBR/ N5E5S=NBR50/EPDM50/Silica
EPDM composites, especially using MBS, montmorillonite
(MMT), and silica. This research aims to study the effect of
some compatibilizer on the mechanical properties and The mechanical properties of the NBR/EPDM composite
compression set of NBR/EPDM. This paper is the third paper were studied by observed the hardness, tensile strength, tear
after the influence of the compatibilizer on the NBR/EPDM strength, and elongation at break. The hardness was observed
vulcanization process had been studied [1] and the influence of by using the hardness tester durometer type A according to the
the compatibilizer on the thermogravimetry and swelling of ISO 48. The tensile strength tester Kao Tieh was used to
NBR/EPDM composite had been studied [10]. The observe the tensile strength and elongation at break according
montmorillonite as compatibilizer gave the best vulcanization to the ISO 37 and observe the tear strength according to the
properties and the MBS gave the best thermal and swelling ISO 34. The accelerated aging of the NBR/EPDM composite
properties of the NBR/EPDM composite. The mechanical was done in a forced air circulating oven (Memmert) at 100 °C
properties of the NBR/EPDM are important to be studied to get for 72 h according to ISO 188. The mechanical properties of
the optimum usage and storage information. The proper use the NBR/EPDM composite were observed in the same manner
and storage of materials makes the material more durable. as described above. Then the results of unaged samples were
compared with the aged samples, in order to study the retention
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS values.
The materials used in this study are NBR (Krynac 4975 F) The compression set of the rubber composite was measured
and EPDM (Keltan 4551 A, ENB 8.7%) as the main rubber. according to ISO 815 - Rubber, vulcanized or thermoplastic-
The additives are carbon black type N330 and N774 (OCI, Determination of compression set. The rubber samples were
Korea), zinc oxide (ZnO, Indoxide), methyl methacrylate- placed in a compression set testing apparatus shown in Figure
butadiene-styrene (MBS) (Huaxing), montmorillonite (Sigma 1. The rubber samples were compressed at 25% compression at
Aldrich), silica (Zeosil 175P, Rhodia Silica Qingdao), stearic 100 °C for 24 h. After the test ended, the samples were
acid Aflux 42 M (Rhein Chemie), paraffinic wax (Korea) removed and then the compression set was calculated using
Antilux 654 A), paraffinic oil (Indrasari), 6PPD (Starchem) as Equation (1)
anti-ozone, 2,2'-dithiobis (benzothiazole) (MBTS, Kemai) and
N-cyclohexyl-benzothiazylsulphenamide (CBS, Kemai), PEG (1)
(Korean PEG 4000), and sulfur (Miwon). The ingredients were
blended using a two-roll mill then vulcanized with a hydraulic
press. The formulation as in previous studies is shown in Table
1[10] [11].
Table 1. The formulation of NBR/EPDM composite
Blend, phr
Ingredients
N10E0 N0E10 N5E5 N5E5M N5E5MMT N5E5S

NBR 100 0 50 50 50 50
EPDM 0 100 50 50 50 50
ZnO 5 5 5 5 5 5
Stearic acid 1 1 1 1 1 1
CB N330 30 30 30 30 30 30 Figure 1. The compression set apparatus
CB N774 30 30 30 30 30 30
MBS 0 0 0 2.5 0 0
MMT 0 0 0 0 2.5 0
Silica 0 0 0 0 0 2.5

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JURNAL TEKNOLOGI PROSES DAN INOVASI INDUSTRI, VOL. 5, NO. 1, JULI 2020
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 250

Tensile Strength, kg/cm2

A. Mechanical Properties 200
The mechanical properties of the composite are shown in
Figure 2 until Figure 5. The retained mechanical properties 150
(hardness, tensile strength, elongation at break, and tear 100
strength) were then calculated before and after aging that
shown in Table 2. The blending formulation and 50
compatibilizers affect the composite’s mechanical properties.
Figure 2 shows the hardness value of the EPDM/NBR 0
composite before and after accelerated aging. The 100% NBR N10E0 N0E10 N5E5 N5E5M N5E5MMT N5E5S
composite (N10E0) shows the highest hardness and the 100% Composite
EPDM composite (N0E10) shows the lowest hardness, while Before Aging After Aging
the blends show the hardness among them. The accelerated
aging process leads to an increasing of hardness. This happens Figure 3. The tensile strength of NBR/EPDM composite
because heat makes the rubber-additive reaction becomes faster
and the crosslink density is increases [3] [12]. Therefore the 70
rubber can harden at a certain time. The compatibilizers give 60

Tear Strength, kg/cm

no significant difference in hardness.
50
100 40
80 30
Hardness, shore A

20
60
10
40 0
N10E0 N0E10 N5E5 N5E5M N5E5MMT N5E5S
20
Composite
0 Before Aging After Aging
N10E0 N0E10 N5E5 N5E5M N5E5MMT N5E5S
Composite Figure 4. The tear strength of NBR/EPDM composite

Before Aging After Aging
Figure 2. The hardness of NBR/EPDM composite
Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the tensile strength and tear
strength of NBR/EPDM composite before and after accelerated
aging. Tensile strength shows the resistance of composite to
load. The 100% NBR composite (N10E0) has the highest
tensile and tear strength, the 100% EPDM composite (N0E10)
has lower tensile and tear strength than 100% NBR composite,
while the NBR/EPDM composite has the lowest tensile and
tear strength. The low tensile strength may happen because the
composite is less homogeneous that leads to the reduction of
mechanical properties [13]. The montmorillonite gives the
highest tensile strength and tear strength than other
The elongation at break percentage of the composite before
and after accelerated aging is shown in Figure 5. The
elongation at break represents the resistance of the composite
when being stretched. The 100% EPDM composite (N0E10)
has the highest elongation at break, the 100% NBR composite
(N10E0) has a lower elongation at break than 100% EPDM
composite. Montmorillonite as compatibilizer can improve the
elongation until 310%. The montmorillonite also gives the
lowest elongation at break reduction (6,67%) than MBS
(8,93%) and silica (9,41%). The accelerated aging reduces the
elongation at break because the heat can damage the bond
between rubber-additives.
400
Elongation at Break, %

compatibilizers (123 kg/cm2 and 37 kg/cm). The accelerated 300

aging process reduces the tensile and the tear strength of the
composite because heat can make rubber mature, rigid, and 200
brittle. This results are suitable with the previous study by
Jovanovic et al. [3]. The montmorillonite gives the lowest 100
tensile and tear strength reduction (9,51% and 13,51%) than
MBS (12,95% and 15,25%) and silica (14,05% and 16,67%). 0
These results show that montmorillonite can be a suitable N10E0 N0E10 N5E5 N5E5M N5E5MMT N5E5S
compatibilizer for NBR/EPDM blend. Composite
Before Aging After Aging

Figure 5. The elongation of break of NBR/EPDM composite

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JURNAL TEKNOLOGI PROSES DAN INOVASI INDUSTRI, VOL. 5, NO. 1, JULI 2020
Table 2. The retained mechanical properties of NBR/EPDM composite (in %)
N0E10 5.81
Tensile Tear Elongation N5E5 6.57
Composite Hardness
strength strength at break
N5E5M 6.08
N10E0 +3.66 -18.59 -21.58 -10.81 N5E5MMT 5.10

N0E10 +2.94 -10.64 -18.28 -5.31 N5E5S 6.87

N5E5 +4.25 -7.38 -16.67 -6.23

N5E5M +3.31 -12.95
N5E5MMT +3.70 -9.51
N5E5S +3.70 -14.05
B. Compression Set
Figure 6 shows the compression set percentage of
NBR/EPDM composite before and after accelerated aging
using Equatin (1). The retained compression set percentage is
shown in Table 3. The compression set shows the resistance of
composite’s elastic properties after being compressed in certain
conditions [14]. It shows the ability of the composite to back
into original shape after the force is removed [15]. This
information is important to prevent leakage for example seal,
gasket, door, windows, automotives machine. These
informations also important for bearing pad applications for
protecting the dock from the anchored ship. From figure 6, the
100% NBR composite (N10E0) and 100% EPDM composite
(N0E10) has an almost the same compression set value. All of
the compatibilizers can reduce the compression set, while the
montmorillonite as compatibilizer gives the lowest
compression set (7%). The lowest compression set, the highest
composite resistance to the compression. The accelerated aging
increases the compression set of all the composites, but
montmorillonite gives the lowest compression set retention
(5,1%). Montmorillonite can be a suitable compatibilizer for
improving the compression resistance of NBR/EPDM
composite.
14
12
Compression set, %
IV. CONCLUSION
-15.25 -8.93
The different blend formulation gives the different
-13.51 -6.67 properties of NBR/EPDM composite. The compatibilizer can
improve the mechanical properties and compression set. The
-16.67 -9.41 accelerated aging can increases the hardness (up to 4%) and
compression set (up to 9%) of NBR/EPDM composite. The
accelerated aging also can decrease the tensile strength (up to
19%), tear strength (up to 22%), and elongation at break (up to
11%). As a compatibilizer, MBS gives the lowest tensile
strength (94 kg/cm2), tear strength (30 kg/cm), elongation of
break (224%) and gives the highest compression set (10%).
Montmorillonite gives the highest tensile strength (123
kg/cm2), tear strength (37 kg/cm), elongation of break (310%)
and gives the lowest compression set (7%). While silica gives
the properties among them, tensile strength (98 kg/cm2), tear
strength (36 kg/cm), elongation of break (237%), compression
set (7%). Montmorillonite gives the best mechanical properties
and compression set. Montmorillonite can be a suitable
compatibilizer for improving the mechanical properties and
compression set of NBR/EPDM composite.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author thanks the Center for Leather, Rubber, and
Plastics for facilitating this research and the BPPI Ministry of
Industry for funding this research.
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