PREPARATION OF LOW TEMPERATURE RESISTANT AND HIGH ELECTRICAL INSULATION CHLOROPRENE RUBBER–BUTADIENE RUBBER BLENDS

Abstract

ABSTRACT To satisfy some special demands of many applications in the fields of aerospace and the electronic industry, low temperature resistant and high electrical insulation chloroprene rubber (CR) was prepared by blending pristine CR with different weight ratios of butadiene rubber (BR). The low temperature resistance, electrical insulation properties, and mechanical properties of CR/BR blends were investigated. With increasing BR content, the low temperature resistance and electrical insulation properties were improved, whereas the tensile strength and elongation at break decreased. For the CR/BR (65/35) blend, filled with SiO2, the brittleness temperature (Tb) was reduced to −61 °C and the high electrical insulation properties were obtained without sacrificing mechanical properties too much. The tan δ plots of CR/BR blends, investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis, also revealed that BR could reduce glass transition temperature (Tg) and improve low temperature resistance of CR. The phase contrast microscope images of CR/BR blends demonstrated that the phase structure of the blends changed with increasing BR content. Furthermore, the fracture surfaces of CR/BR blends, observed by scanning electron microscopy, showed that the compatibility of CR/BR blends was poor although the CR/BR blends were homogeneous in macrostructure.