ROHSTOFFE UND ANWENDUNGEN
RAW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
Recycling · rubber waste particles ·
EPDM · liquid polymers · activation ·
sulphur vulcanization
The recycling of ethylene-propylene-
diene-rubber (EPDM) waste was rea-
lized by activation of EPDM rubber was-
te particles surface with liquid EPDM
polymers (LP) of low molecular weight.
The optimal ratio of the waste EPDM
rubber to LP was investigated whit re-
gards to the original EPDM properties.
The degree of unsaturated ethylidene
norbornene diene ter-monomer in LPs
plays an important role in the activati-
on process and the cross-linking density
of the reactivated materials and there-
fore the mechanical properties.
Wiederverwertung von EPDM-
Gummimehl durch Aktivie-
rung mit flüssigen Polymeren
Recycling · Altgummimehl · EPDM ·
flüssige Polymere · Aktivierung ·
Schwefelvulkanisation
Eine Recyclingstudie Ethylen-Propylen-
Dien (EPDM) Gummimehl wurde durch
Aktivierung von Altgummimehlparti-
keln (EPDM-P) mit flüssigen niedriger
molekularen EPDM-Polymeren (LP)
durchgeführt. Es wurde das optimale
Verhältnis von EPDM-Gummimehl/LP
und Aktrivierungsagenzien ermittelt,
um originären mechanischen EPDM Ei-
genschaften zu erhalten. . Der Grad an
ungesättigtem Ethyliden-norbornen-
Termonomer entscheidet maßgeblich
über die Vernetzungsdichte des entste-
henden Vulkanisates und so dessen me-
chanischen Eigenschaften.
Figures and Tables:
By a kind approval of the authors.
www.kgk-rubberpoint.de
Recycling of EPDM Rubber Waste
Powder by Activation with liquid
Polymers
Nowadays recycling of waste rubbers is
an important research topic for many
industries with major implications in en-
vironmental protection and economy.
According to an estimate study made in
Germany in 2006 by the “Fraunhofer Ins-
titute” for Environmental, Safety and
Energy Technology (UMSICHT), the waste
rubber amount is on the order of about
125,000 t/year [1] approximately 14 % of
total used raw material. In some cases,
this percentage can reach values of
about up to 50 % from the raw material,
depending on the production process.
Recycling or reclaiming processes are
very difficult and not completely under-
stood until now, due to the irreversible
three-dimensional cross linking of rubbers
[2]. Most research studies that involve the
reprocessing and recycling of vulcanized
rubber waste are related to diene rubber
types, i.e. copolymers of butadiene, isopre-
ne, acrylonitrile and styrene - (NBR, SBR).
The studies for recycling of Ethylene-pro-
pylene-diene rubber (EPDM) products are
significantly fewer although EPDM is one
of the most used synthetic rubbers be-
cause of its very good resistance to weat-
hering, heat, oxygen and ozone [3]. The
usual recycling methods for EPDM waste
are based on devulcanization techniques,
which assume that crosslinks are partially
broken by chemical, thermo-chemical,
physical, biological, or radiation-chemical
process or intensive grinding in the pre-
sence of oxygen, or reclaiming agents.
Such treatments lead to rubber powders
with partially chemically activated surface
that can be used to substitute virgin rub-
ber in blends with other polymers up to
45 %, without affecting the processability
and physical properties of the blends [4].
Earlier studies in this area used different
methods for reutilization of EPDM rubbers
such as: amines as devulcanization agent
[5-8], microwave energy [9,10], ultrasonic
devulcanization [11-14]. Disadvantages of
the mentioned processes result from the
fact that not only crosslinks are cleaved,
but also partially the polymer chains. This
leads to branched macromolecules with
broader molecular weight distributions
than the original elastomer and thus has a
considerable influence on the mechanical
properties of final materials. Moreover the
accelerators remaining in the waste rub-
ber play also an important role in the recy-
cling process of waste rubber. De and co-
workers [15,16] investigated the effects of
the ground waste EPDM on the Mooney
viscosity, cure characteristics and mecha-
nical properties of the EPDM virgin rubber.
They observed that at higher percent (ca.
50 %) of the ground waste rubber into
virgin rubber, the maximum rheometric
torque decreases, phenomena which can
be attributed to the sulphur migration
from the virgin matrix rubber to waste
particles rubber with a decrease in appa-
rent crosslink density of material. Hamed
et. al. [17] performed similar studies on
SBR rubber containing ground vulcanisate
and also observed migration of accelerator
fragments from the waste rubber phase to
fresh rubber matrix causing a decrease of
scorch time. They showed that samples
containing virgin rubber, sulfur and
ground waste rubber (accelerated-sulfur
vulcanizated) without an accelerator, no-
netheless exhibits acceleration of cure
[17]. First studies using a liquid polymer to
activate the ground rubber waste particles
were described by Stark [18]. He found
that by applying a small amount of a li-
quid unsaturated polymer with a curing
agent on the surface of a particulate vul-
canised rubber, these could be used at
high concentration as an additive to virgin
rubber with only moderate loss of physical
properties [18].
Authors
Ana Maria Lepadatu, Simona
Asaftei, Norbert Vennemann,
Osnabrück
Corresponding author:
Dr. C. Simona Asaftei
University of Osnabrück
Barbarastraße 7
D-49069 Osnabrück Germany
E-Mail: sasaftei@uos.de,
carmen.simona.asaftei@iap.
fraunhofer.de
KGK · 1-2 2014 41
 ROHSTOFFE UND ANWENDUNGEN
RAW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS

EPDM-P Masterbatch LP/EPDM-P Vulcanized new compound

1. LP/EPDM-P 3. Vulcanisation
2. Pre-batch/ curative system

surface of the particle surface of the particle in contact with LP cross-linking points

Chart 1: Schematic representation of chemical activation of EPDM rubber waste particles (EPDM-P) with liquid polymers (LP). Step 1. Mixing of
LP/EPDM-P (pre-batch) at 100 °C, 15 min; Step 2. Mixing of pre-batch with curative system, at 90 °C, 7 min; Step 3. Vulcanisation at 180 °C.

Considering the above mentioned is- chanical properties and crosslink density cular weight 7,700 Da, 9.5 % diene, ethyle-
sues, in the present work, we report an of the compounds. The properties of the ne/propylene ratio 45/55 and liquid poly-
easy method to activate the ground was- resulting composites were investigated mer Trilene® 66 (LP-B) Type ethylene-pro-
te rubber particles surface by means of a by physical, chemical and mechanical pylene-ethylidene norbornene (EBN):
low molecular weight polymer (LP) which methods. with specific gravity 0.84, molecular
is highly compatible with the EPDM waste weight 8,000 Da, 4.5 % Diene, ethylene/
rubber particles (EPDM-P) and also suita- Experimental part propylene ratio 45/55 were supplied by
ble for sulphur crosslinking. The prepara- Lion Copolymer,USA. The zinc oxide (ZnO),
tion of EPDM-P/LP composites with LP Materials stearic acid, N-Cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazo-
which contains different degree of unsa- The ethylene-propylene diene rubber (EP- le sulfenamide (CBS) were commercial
turation, as well as the vulcanisation of DM) waste was ground at room tempera- grade as used in rubber industry. All che-
them with different amount of curative is ture using a typical sulfur-cured EPDM micals were used as received.
reported in this study. The content of vulcanizate, supplied by M.D.S. Meyer
5-ethylidene-2-norbornene diene termo- GmbH, Germany. Mean particles size of Preparation of vulcanisates
nomer (ENB) of the LP was 4.5 % and 9.5 % the powder was about 700-850 μm with a The preparation of LP/EPDM-P com-
and the amount of ground EPDM waste density of 1.19 g/cm3 determinate by Ela- pounds was carried out in a laboratory
rubber was varied from volume fraction test®, Brabender® GmbH& Co.KG, Gema- internal mixer using conventional mixing
from 0.5 to 0.9 of EPDM-P. The results ny. Liquid polymer Trilene® 67 (LP-A) Type procedures that involve two stages: in the
showed that ENB and curative system ethylene-propylene-ethylidene norborne- first stage the mixing of LP and EPDM-P
content have a high influence upon me- ne (EBN) with specific gravity 0.86, mole- was carried out with a fill factor of 0.7, at
a chamber temperature of 100 °C and a
1 Tab. 1: Composition of LP/EPDM-P samples with different EPDM-P content and rotor speed of 40 rpm for 15 min. In the
constant curative system. second stage the blends were mixed fol-
Ingredients Sample name lowed by addition of the activators (ZnO
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 and stearic acid), and crosslinking agents
Amount (phr) (CBS and sulfur), in the same mixer at
LP 100 100 a chamber temperature of 90 °C, with
40 rpm for 7 min (Chart 1).
EPDM-P 140 210 330 560 1300 145 220 340 570 1300 The Table 1 and 2 summarize the com-
ZnO 2 2 positions of samples used in this study.
Stearic acid 1 1 The samples listed in Table 1 were obtai-
CBS 3 3 ned using two different types of LP, type
Sulfur 1.2 1.2 A and B (4.5 % and 9.5 % ENB respec-
tively) with a constant ratio of curative
2 Tab. 2: Composition of LP/EPDM-P samples with constant EPDM-P content and system. The content of waste rubber
variable curative system particles (EPDM-P) was varied from 0.5
Ingredients Sample name to 0.9 volume fractions. In Table 2 the
A4 B4 content of curative was varied system
a b c d e f a b c d e f and the amount of LP and EPDM-P con-
Amount (phr)
tent was kept constant (volume fraction
0.8 EPDM-P).
LP 100 100
EPDM-P 560 570
Measurement of mechanical and mor-
ZnO 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 phological properties of LP/EPDM-P
Stearic acid 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 composites
CBS 0 3 6 9 12 15 0 3 6 9 12 15 The cure characteristics of the com-
Sulfur 0 1. 2. 3. 4. 6. 0 1. 2. 3. 4. 6.0 pounds were determined at 180 °C using
2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 a Dynamic Moving Die Rheometer of

42 KGK · 1-2 2014 www.kgk-rubberpoint.de

 ROHSTOFFE UND ANWENDUNGEN
RAW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS

type D- MDR 3000 from MonTech GmbH, 1

Buchen, Germany. The compounds were
compression moulded at 180 °C with a
pressure of 10 MPa using an electrical
heated hydraulic press according to their
respective cure time, t90.

Mechanical Properties
Mechanical properties like hardness we-
re measured according to ASTM D 2240
ISO 7619 a Durometer Shore A (DIN
53505 EN ISO 868). Elongation at break
and tensile strength tests were perfor-
med using a universal testing machine
(Zwick) in accordance with DIN 53504.
The swelling measurements were perfor-
med to obtain information about the
apparent crosslink densities of the new
compounds. Samples of known weight
(m0) were immersed in toluene at 24 °C
for 48h until the samples reached the
maximum swelling. The solvent was re-
placed after 24h with fresh toluene to
Fig. 1: MAS 1H-NMR spectra of: a) EPDM-P, b) cured LP with 9,5 % ENB and c) EPDM-P/LP
remove the extracted components.
vulcanized
After 48h the samples were removed
from toluene and the surfaces were
quickly wiped with tissue paper and 2
weighted to find the swollen weight of
the samples (m). The samples were
further dried at 50 °C for 48h, cooled in a
desiccator and then weighted again (md).
The polymer volume fraction, ΦP, was
calculated by the Equation (1) according
to the reference [19].

(1)

where m is the mass of the swollen sam-

ple and md is the mass of the sample
after drying, ρP and ρS are the sample and
solvent densities, respectively.
The apparent crosslink density, υe,
which represents the effective number
of chains per unit volume, is calculated
using Equation (2) according to the Flory-
Rehner equation [20, 21].
Fig. 2: Rheometer curves of LP-A (full symbols) and LP-B/EPDM-P (open symbols)
composites with constant curative system and variable EPDM-P content
(2)

instrument consists of an electrically on of the data as well as for the control of

where VS is the solvent molar volume
(106.5 cm3/mol for toluene), χ is the EP-
DM-toluene interaction parameter and is
taken from literature as 0.49 [22].
Temperature Scanning Stress Relaxa-
tion (TSSR) measurements were perfor-
med to determine the crosslink density
of the samples using a TSSR instrument
from Brabender GmbH (Duisburg, Ger-
many), by using the temperature scan-
ning stress relaxation method. The TSSR
heated where the sample is placed bet-
ween two clams, which are connected to
a linear drive unit to apply a uniaxial ex-
tension to the sample. A high quality sig-
nal amplifier in combination with a high
resolution AD-converter is used to detect
and digitize the analogue signals of the
high-resolution force transducer and the
temperature sensor. All signals are trans-
ferred to a personal computer. A soft-
ware is used for treatment and evaluati-
the test procedure.
The measurement with the TSSR-Me-
ter starts with placing the sample into
the electrically heated test chamber an
initial temperature of 23 °C. At first, the
initial strain of 50 % is applied to dumb-
bell test piece. While the temperature
remains constant the isothermal test
period starts subsequently. During this
time most of the short time relaxation
process occurs and the sample reaches a

www.kgk-rubberpoint.de KGK · 1-2 2014 43

 ROHSTOFFE UND ANWENDUNGEN
RAW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
3 Fig. 3 Hardness versus
4 Fig. 4 Tensile strength
5 Fig. 5: Elongation at
nearly stable state. After the isothermal
relaxation test period is finished, the
sample is heated linearly at a constant
rate of 2K/min, until the stress relaxation
has been fully completed or rupture of
the sample has occurred. The apparent
crosslink density, υe, was determined
from the maximum slope of the stress
temperature curve in the initial part of
the curve according to the Equations (3)
44 KGK · 1-2 2014
strain ratio, κ is the derivative of mecha-
volume fraction of nical stress with respect to temperature,
EPDM-P of LP/EPDM-P ρ is the mass density and Mc is defined as
composite the average molar mass of the elastically
active network chains.
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Studies
This was carried out on tensile fracture
surfaces of EPDM-P and EPDM-P/LP sam-
ples using a JEOL JSM 6510 scanning
electron microscope (JEOL GmbH Germa-
ny). Cryogenically fractured surfaces we-
re coated with a thin layer of gold prior to
examination, using a Fine Coater JEOL
JFC 1200.
H-NMR Spectroscopy
1
versus volume fraction Magic angle spinning (MAS) 1H-NMR
of EPDM-P of LP/ spectra were recorded on a Brucker AMX-
EPDM-P composite 500 spectrometer at a resonance fre-
quency of 500 MHz. A 4 mm probe head
was used with a MAS rate of 8 kHz. The
spectra were acquired by means of a
single-pulse excitation with 90° pulse of
5 μs and a recycling delay time of 5 s. The
experiments were performed at 30 °C.
Results and discussion
Characterization of the covulcanization
The presence of any double bonds in the
recycled rubber powder, mentioned in
the past by Giese and co-workers [2], can
be used as reactive center for chemically
break versus volume modifying of waste particles surface for
fraction of EPDM-P of better grafting of it onto the virgin rub-
LP/EPDM-P composite ber matrix. The concentration of double
bonds after vulcanization is an interes-
ting factor in estimating chemical reacti-
vity of vulcanizate and were performed
by chemical methods [2], solid state 1H-
NMR [23] and 13C labeled [24] study on
chemical cross-links. The MAS 1H-NMR
spectra of EPDM waste rubber particles
are dominated by signals of aliphatic
protons of the ethylene propylene mono-
mers (EPM) backbone around 1 ppm. At
large magnification of spectra the vinyl
protons of ENB are still seen in the spec-
tral range of 4-6 ppm, the signals of not
reacted accelerators are also present in
and (4) from literature [19]: the spectral range of 7-9 ppm (Figure 1a).
Comparing the spectra of EPDM liquid
(3) polymers with 9,5  % ENB after cross-lin-
king pure and mixed with waste rubber
with particles (volume fraction 0.8 EPDM-P)
suggest that the sulphur has been largely
(4) converted. The remaining aromatic sig-
nals in Figure 1a and 1c respectively are
where υe is the apparent crosslink densi- related to the not consumed accelerator
ty, R is the universal gas constant, λ is fragments comparing with LP only Figure
www.kgk-rubberpoint.de

1b. The chemical shifts of the protons of
ENB residues into EPDM-P are present as
doublet signal by 5.5 and 5.3 ppm, respec-
tively while with liquid polymers 9.5 %
ENB the shifts were 5.6 and 5.4 ppm, res-
pectively. The subsequent difference in
chemical environment is sufficient to in-
duce a shift of EBN which gives informati-
on of the chemical structure of the cross-
linking. This result demonstrates that af-
ter vulcanisation between EPDM-P and LP
a chemical reaction took place to form, via
substitution at the α-position next to the
residual double bond of ENB, sulfur-cross-
linking network. The intensity of the un-
saturated EBN resonances decreases as a
result of the substitution of protons in al-
lylic position and a proton from α-position
of EBN by sulfur bonds.
Vulcanization curves plotted in Figure
2, showing the dependence of vulcaniza-
tion time on the torque moment.
The obtained data show that the in-
crease of the EPDM-P content in the
samples composition resulted in an in-
crease of minimum torque (ML), repre-
senting the viscosity of the compound.
The higher values obtained for the maxi-
mum torque MH in case of samples with
LP-A in the composition can be assigned
to the higher percent of ENB contained
by the liquid polymer, which plays an
important role upon crosslink density.
The difference between MH and ML is re-
lated to the samples crosslink density.
The rise of the maximum torque could be
thus attributed to the interaction bet-
ween LP and EPDM-P. The optimum cure
time (t90) increased with increasing EP-
DM-P content in the compounds, sugges-
ting that there are still active curatives in
the EPDM-P (see Figure 1a) that may
participate in the vulcanization process.
On the other hand the scorch time of
LP/EPDM-P compounds, a measure of
premature vulcanization, decreases with
increasing the EPDM-P content. Similar
behaviour was observed on the EPDM
and SBR virgin rubber mixed with ground
rubber. The work group of De et al. [15,
16], Gibala and Hamed [17] explained
this effect by migration of accelerators
from ground vulcanizates to the virgin
rubber matrix. The group of Padke et al.
[25] reported also a decrease in scorch
time for cryogenically ground rubber
(CGR) -natural rubber (NR) blends, which
was attributed to the presence of unre-
acted curatives and/or crosslinked pre-
cursors (CGR) in the ground rubber.
The mechanical properties of LP/EP-
DM-P composites strongly depend on
ground waste rubber content. The varia-
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ROHSTOFFE UND ANWENDUNGEN
RAW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
6
Fig. 6: Rheometer curves of LP-A (full symbols) and LP-B/EPDM-P (open symbols)
composites with different curative system ratio and constant content of EPDM-P
tions of hardness, tensile strength and dies were performed on samples with
elongation at break with increasing volu- constant volume fraction of EPDM-P 0.8
me fraction of EPDM-P in the LP/EPDM-P (v/v %) and different curative system con-
composites are shown in Figures 3, 4, 5. tent (Table 2). The corresponding rheo-
The higher the content of EPDM-P in meter curves are shown in Figure 6.
LP/EPDM-P compounds an increase of The samples A4a and B4a, without cu-
the hardness is observed (Figure 3). The rative system, are vulcanised to a small
tensile strength follows the same trend, extent, which was probably caused by the
but it also shows higher values for the residual curatives migrated from the EP-
samples with higher ENB content in the DM-P into the liquid phase. The maxi-
composition (Figure 4). The dependence mum torque of the compounds increased
of elongation at break on the volume with increasing the amount of curative
fraction of EPDM-P (Figure 5) reveals a system as well as with the diene content
maximum value for the samples with LP- of LP. At higher content of the curative
A containing 70 % of EPDM-P, followed by system the curves remains constant, indi-
a sharp decrease. The samples with LP-B cating that no crosslinking reactions take
show only a slightly rise of the elongati- place anymore. By systematically increa-
on. The increase of the mechanical pro- sing of the curative system, a linear incre-
perties may be also attributed to the fil- ase of the difference MH-ML can be obser-
ler contained in the EPDM-P. ved, whereas the scorch time remained
almost constant. It can be concluded that
Cure behaviour the curative system together with the
To study the influence of the curative suitable amount of ENB contained in the
system content on the cure rate of the LP enhance the activation of the surface
LP/EPDM-P composites, rheometric stu- particles giving higher crosslinking values.
3 Tab. 3: Mechanical properties of the vulcanizates
Mechanical Sample name
properties A4 B4
a b c d e f a b c d e f
Hardness, 31 38 44 48 50 53 16 36 39 43 46 48
Shore A
Tensile 0.7 2.2 5.1 6.0 6.4 6.0 0.2 1.1 2.2 3.2 3.9 4.6
strength,
MPa
Elongation 80 256 309 323 298 275 14 130 181 227 246 253
at break, %
KGK · 1-2 2014 45
 ROHSTOFFE UND ANWENDUNGEN
RAW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
7 This behaviour can be attributed to the
Fig. 7: Volume fraction of EPDM-P versus crosslink density from swelling measurements
8 cant effect in the consolidation of net-
Fig. 8: Sulfur content versus crosslink density from swelling and TSSR measurements
Mechanical properties of composites
such as: hardness, tensile strength and
elongation at break are summarized in
Table 3.
For all samples, hardness, tensile
strength and elongation at break increa-
se by increasing the curative system
content; better values were obtained for
samples containing LP-A. The samples
containing LP-A and LP-B, respectively,
revealed different mechanical properties,
as consequence of the double bonds con-
centration of the liquid polymers. It can
be thus concluded that a suitable amount
46 KGK · 1-2 2014
of curatives together with higher con-
tent of diene leads to a significant impro-
vement of the mechanical properties.
Apparent crosslink density determinate
by swelling and TSSR measurements
The apparent crosslink density was de-
termined by swelling measurements for
the samples with LP-A and LP-B, contai-
ning different volume fraction of EPDM-P
and constant curative system. The appa-
rent crosslink density, increases signifi-
cantly with increasing the volume frac-
tion of EPDM-P (Figure 7).
interaction between the particle surface
and the liquid polymer, proving that the
powder has been incorporated into the
three dimensional network. The crosslink
density of the pure LP is very low when
comparing with the samples which con-
tain EPDM-P (Figure 7). Due to the low
viscosity of the liquid polymers it is able to
wet the surface of the ground rubber par-
ticles and serve as a binder between par-
ticles. The relation between the crosslink
densities obtained from the swelling ex-
periments is in good agreement with the
data obtained from TSSR measurements.
Figure 8 shows the data obtained
from swelling and TSSR measurements,
for a set of samples which constant volu-
me fraction 0.8 EPDM-P and different
amount of curative system.
The increase of the curative system
content leads to an increase of the cross-
link density. This can be explained by the
fact that the curative system has a signifi-
work structure. The results regarding the
solvent swelling studies support the
changes in torque, evidenced by the rheo-
meter curves as presented in Figure 6.
Surface characterization by SEM
The morphologies observed at the frac-
ture surface of tensile specimens for the
EPDM vulcanized start material, ground
rubber particle (EPDM-P), liquid polymer
(LP) and composite LP-A/EPDM-P (volu-
me fraction 0.8 EPDM-P) with and wit-
hout curative system respectively were
studied by scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) and are shown in Figure 9. The
pictures give an insight into the blend
morphology regarding homogeneity and
compactness of the LP/EPDM-P composi-
tes. The EPDM start material from which
are obtained the waste particles (EPDM-
P) shows a good uniformity and homo-
geneity (Figure 9a). The EPDM-P reveals
the presence of spongier agglomerates
with high surface roughness compared
with the EPDM-P sample after pressing
at 180 °C; the morphology of the sample
changes after heating, the surface beco-
mes smoother but with fissures brittle
(Figure 9 b,c).The vulcanized LP-A (Figure
9f) presents a uniform and smooth sur-
face. The interaction between LP-A and
EPDM-P without activators/curative sys-
tem leads to a brittle, failure surface
containing voids which indicate the ab-
sence of inter-rubber crosslinking (Figure
9e). The surface of the LP/EPDM-P com-
posite (volume fraction 0.8 EPDM-P) with
www.kgk-rubberpoint.de

Fig. 9: SEM images of: a) EPDM-vulcanized start material; b) EPDM-P c) EPDM-P pressed at 180 °C; d) LP-A/EPDM-P (volume fraction 0.8 EPDM-P)
with curative system e) LP-A/EPDM-P (volume fraction 0.8 EPDM-P) without curative system; f) LP-A vulcanizated with curative system.
curative system after vulcanization show
higher degree of compactness similar to
the vulcanized start material (Figure 9d).
The architectural homogeneity indicates
much better state of dispersion with ef-
ficient interfacial cross-linking. The com-
pact structure of the LP/EPDM-P compo-
site is manifested in the significant en-
hancement of mechanical properties.
Conclusions
The cure characteristics, crosslink density,
morphology and mechanical properties of
LP/EPDM-P composites have been studied
in terms of EPDM-P loading, variation of
ENB content in the LP and different ratios
of the curative systems. ENB content and
EPDM-P ratio plays an important role
upon cure characteristics behaviour and
mechanical properties. The maximum
torque increases with increasing EPDM-P
content as result of the interaction bet-
ween EPDM-P and LP, while the scorch
time decreases, as a migration of curati-
ves from EPDM-P to LP phase. By using a
volume fraction of 0.8 EPDM-P activated
with the LP together with a suitable cura-
tive system a new composite was obtai-
ned (Table 3, A4d) with 80 % hardness,
66 % tensile strength and 58 % elongation
at break from the values of the start ma-
terial. This study provides an important
framework to design new rubber compo-
site with desirable properties.
Nevertheless, further studies regar-
ding the characterization of activated
EPDM-P with liquid polymers are neces-
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ROHSTOFFE UND ANWENDUNGEN
RAW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
sary to make plain and comprehensible
the chemistry processes hidden behind.
Acknowledgements
We express our thanks to the Deutsche
Bundesstiftung Umwelt special to Dr.
Jörg Lefevre and M.D.S. Meyer GmbH for
the financial support of this work. The
authors are also grateful to the Lion
Copolymer Geismar (USA), LLC for the
liquids polymers samples.
References
[1] M. Rechberger, H. Michael, Abschlussbericht,
Oberhausen: Fraunhofer Institut für Umwelt,
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