Study on the Properties of Blends between Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Rubber and Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene or Poly(Styrene-co-Acrylonitrile)

Abstract

Acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) or nitrile rubber is an unsaturated copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile. NBR has been widely used for fuel hoses, seals and gaskets due to its excellent oil and fuel resistance. Aiming to develop NBR which has resistance to oxygenated solvent, NBR with acrylonitrile content of 34 wt%, was blended with Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and Poly (Styrene-co-Acrylonitrile) (SAN) as binary polymer systems. The NBR/ABS and SAN blends were prepared by mechanical blending in the composition of 80/20, 70/30 and 60/40 w/w. The effects of ABS or SAN content on mechanical, morphological and thermal properties were investigated and compared with commercials NBR. Mechanical properties were determined using the tensile testing machine. The morphologies of polymer blends were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The thermal properties were examined using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). It has been found that percent compatibility of ABS and SAN into NBR rich phase are 2.69 and 1.53 wt% respectively.