Influence of Rubber Ratio and Crosslinking Agent on Mechanical Properties, Crystallization and Rheological Behaviors of EPDM/PP Thermoplastic Elastomer

Abstract

Abstract The ethylene-propylene-diene monomer/polypropylene (EPDM/PP) thermoplastic elastomer is prepared by dynamic vulcanization. The effects of different rubber ratios and crosslinking agent contents on the static and dynamic mechanical properties, crystallization and rheological behaviors are investigated and discussed. EPDM/PP with the rubber ratio from 40 to 50 % and crosslinking agent content of 1.2 wt% has the highest tensile strength and elongation at break. The fracture morphologies indicate that EPDM/PP with high rubber ratios and crosslinker contents is over vulcanized to harden, which results in that some large particles cannot be fragmented by shear force. The crystallinity obtained from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) shows a decrease with increasing rubber ratio and a very slight variation with increasing the crosslinking content. The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results display a decrease trend in storage modulus and tan δ with increasing crosslinking density. The rheological behaviors show that the complex viscosity also increases with increasing crosslinking density, indicating that the elastic deformation becomes superior to viscous flow in EPDM/PP.