Dynamically vulcanized blends of polyethylene–octene elastomer and ethylene–propylene–diene terpolymer

Abstract

Thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) based on polyethylene–octene elastomer (POE)/ethylene–propylene diene copolymer (EPDM) blends were prepared by dynamic vulcanization, the effects of the EPDM incorporation on mechanical, dynamic mechanical and morphological properties of the TPVs were investigated systemically. Experimental results indicate that compared with pure POE, the improvement of mechanical properties of POE/EPDM blends was achieved; the tensile strength and tearing strength reached the maximum at an EPDM content of 20 wt.%. It is interesting to note that the tensile set at break was decreased almost linearly with increasing EPDM loading, decreasing from 190% (at 0 phr EPDM) to 55% (at 30 wt.% EPDM), indicating the relatively large permanent deformation of POE is improved remarkably by the incorporation with EPDM. Phase contrast microscopy studies show that the vulcanized EPDM particles were uniformly dispersed in the POE matrix. RPA results show that the elastic modulus increased with increasing frequency, moreover, it is noteworthy that the storage modulus of dynamically vulcanized POE/EPDM blends was higher than that of pure POE, however, the storage modulus decreased with increasing EPDM content, the incorporation of EPDM had almost no influence on the tan δ.