Abstract
Chloroprene rubber (CR) with excellent performances including flame retardancy and weather resistance, also suffers limitations like poor processability and unsatisfied fatigue resistance. Herein, a facile and effective method is proposed to modify CR by introducing trans-1,4-poly (butadiene-co-isoprene) copolymer (TBIR) as reactive component. The influences of TBIR component on rheological behaviors, crystalline behaviors, phase morphology and properties of CR/TBIR blends are studied. With increasing TBIR amount in CR/TBIR blends, the viscosity decreases, while the initial vulcanization induction time and the stress relaxation rate increase significantly, indicating improved fluidity, plasticity and processing safety of the CR/TBIR blends. A microphase separation morphology with TBIR domain in several-hundred nanometers and trans-1,4-polyisoprene (TPI) lamellar fibrils penetrating both TBIR and CR domains is observed in the un-vulcanized CR/TBIR blends. The CR/TBIR (90/10) blend with satisfied properties is recommended for potential applications in conveyor belt, vibration damper, etc.
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