Shungite-elastomer interface layers

Abstract

The properties, structure, and molecular mobility of a polymer–solid interface layer largely determine the performance and applications of polymer compos� ites [1–3]. Therefore, the determination of features of the molecular dynamics of interface layers is an important problem. In this work, we attempted to evaluate the mobility and sizes of a shungite–elastomer interface layer. The elastomer was ethylene propylene diene (EPDM) rub� ber. The investigation method was spin probe EPR spectroscopy [4–6]. This method is very popular for studying liquids, polymers, and micellar and biologi� cal systems. Shungite is a mineral, which has recently become widely used [7]. It has high electrical conductivity, sorption capacity, thermal conductivity, sound absorp� tion, ability to absorb various types of electromagnetic radiation, and also pronounced bactericidal and fun� gicidal properties [8]. The shungite we used comprised carbon (30–40 wt %) of various modifications (graph� ite, fullerene, nanocarbon tubes, etc.), silicon dioxide and its derivatives (50–55 wt %), and also a large num� ber of chemical elements [8]. Shungite is used in civil engineering, metallurgy, water filters, and so on. It has recently been shown that using shungite as a filler enables one to obtain highly filled polymer composites with valuable physicochemical properties [8–10]. It