Abstract
This work focuses on the study of thermoplastic vulcanizates based on ethylene octene copolymer (EOC) and poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS) rubber prepared by melt mixing technique using dicumyl peroxide (DCP). It is found that the addition of peroxide causes crosslinking in both the phases. However, crosslinking without affecting the crystallinity of the EOC polymer leads to tremendous improvement in the mechanical properties, including the tensile strength which has improved by nearly 60%. For better understanding about the crosslinking characteristics of thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs), significant correlation has been made between the vulcanized network and the physico-mechanical properties. Further, the dynamic mechanical properties and creep behavior of these thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and TPVs have also been studied. It is inferred that the TPVs show a 19% decrease in the creep compliance, i.e. higher creep resistance compared to uncrosslinked blends. Subsequently, the morphology of the blends before and after vulcanization shows a decrease in the spherical PDMS domains from 0.8 μm to > 0.4 μm. Ageing and reprocessing studies of the prepared TPVs also show better physico-mechanical properties even after reprocessing twice. Thus, the prepared TPVs may have tremendous applications in automobile sectors.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call