Using KH590-Polybutadiene as the New Compatilizer to Improve Carbon Black / Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Terpolymer Composites

Abstract

Rubber materials could be widely used with the reinforcement of inorganic materials, the combination of inorganic materials and rubber needs compatilizer that play an important role in the polymeric composites. The ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM) has considerable radiation stability for gamma or neutron radiation, so it can be applied to cable insulating materials. The EPDM has to be reinforced with carbon black (CB) of inorganic fillers, which are hardly compatible with the EPDM matrix due to EPDM saturated bonds. In this work, The EPDM matrix modified with (3-Mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (KH590)-polybutadiene (KHBR) was studied in details, and the changes in the mechanical, thermal and rheological properties and curing kinetics were investigated by tensile tests, dynamic thermal mechanical analysis (DMA), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and moving die rheometer (MDR). The results showed that the addition of KHBR improved the mechanical and thermal properties of the EPDM, and the optimized content was 2.5%.