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pps proceeding
Symposium: S11 - Elastomers and Thermoplastic Elastomers
Oral Presentation
 
 

PP/EPDM blends by dynamic vulcanization: Influence of increasing peroxide concentration on mechanical, rheological and morphological characteristics

Patermann Simone (1)*, Altstaedt Volker (2)

(1) Universität Bayreuth - Polymere Werkstoffe - Germany, (2) Universität Bayreuth - Polymere Werkstoffe - Germany - Bayern - Germany

Thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) are prepared by a dynamic vulcanization process and combine the elastic properties of cross-linked rubbers with the melt processability of thermoplastics. The typical morphology consists of cross-linked rubber domains finely dispersed in the thermoplastic phase. The most representative examples are the TPVs based on PP and EPDM. In the last years, much work has been done on different characteristics of TPVs, which were produced in a melt mixing batch process using a kneader or a mill. In practice, no studies have been done yet to investigate if these results are also representative for continuous extrusion processing in large scale. The objective was therefore to study the effect of peroxide concentration on the mechanical, rheological and morphological properties of dynamically cross-linked PP/EPDM blends produced in a continuous process and to compare the results to trends from batch processes. The results show that with increasing peroxide concentration the cross-link density increases, leading to 50 % improved compression set. The tensile strength and elongation at break also increase with increasing peroxide concentration and thus increasing cross-link density, but only up to a certain maximum of peroxide concentration respectively. Therefore, the best results were obtained at peroxide concentrations below 1 %. Above these concentration, the PP degradation becomes noticeable with increasing peroxide concentration. The degradation of PP can also be detected very well with the help of rheological measurements. With increasing peroxide concentration, the complex viscosity decreases. Regarding the hysteresis of the materials, the permanent deformation gets lower with higher peroxide concentration/higher cross-link density. The morphology of the PP/EPDM blends changes with the cross-linking of EPDM to smaller dispersed particles up to a certain concentration. Above this, the particle size remains almost the same.