Abstract
The silane modification by melt mixing and the subsequent moisture curing of ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) was optimized based on the Design of Experiments (DOE). The optimum moisture-cured Si-EPDM samples displayed a 101.7% and 36.5% improvement in the tensile strength and modulus, respectively, compared to the pristine EPDM. The cured Si-EPDM even had higher tensile strength than the conventionally sulphur-vulcanized EPDM. Overall, the mechanical properties of the cured Si-EPDM mainly depended on the crosslinking density. However, when there was too much crosslinking, the uneven distribution, byproduct-induced defects and restrictions to the chain re-orientations would negatively affect the tensile strength. The optimum moisture-cured Si-EPDM also displayed higher thermomechanical properties than the pristine EPDM.
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