Study by FT-IR Technique and Adhesive Properties of Vulcanized EPDM Modified with Plasma

Abstract

The surface of vulcanized ethylene propylene diene terpolymers (EPDM) was modified by Ar and N2, microwave generated plasma in order to improve adhesion properties. Surface modification was characterized by universal attenuated total reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (UATR/FT-IR), because it presented lower interference of ingredients of EPDM formulation when compared with other techniques used for the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) to different crystals (ATR/KRS-5 and ATR/Ge). Oxygenated groups were introduced on the surface after treatments which were formed when the activated surface was exposed to the plasma gas. In treatments with nitrogen, oxygen groups and probable nitrogen groups were formed on the surface and could be identified by FT-IR. Reduction in the measurement of the contact angle and an increase in the work of adhesion and in the peel strength (EPDM X Polyurethane (PU)) were observed after the treatment resulted in the improvement of the adhesion properties of the modified surface.

TLC/IR (UATR) off-line coupling for the characterization of additives in EPDM rubber compositions

“…However, it is necessary to find suitable conditions for determining, which is not always a simple task [2,3] . IR spectroscopy, a well known technique [4] , whose greatest quality is the identification of chemical function compounds, has been used quite successfully by many researchers, and in the laboratories of Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço (IAE), in particular, for analysis of rubber based on copolymer of ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM), used in aerospace researches [5][6][7] .…”

“…In these studies, by using reflection techniques, although it has been highlighted the diffuse reflectance (DRIFT), it was mentioned that there were difficulties related to time of analysis and interference of absorptions of materials used in DRIFT-TLC analysis, such as silica present on the TLC plate, with those relating to additives to be identified. Recently, FT-IR microscopy technique [11] , have been focused as more promising, but we think that other reflection techniques, less complex and quicker can be used, such as universal attenuated total reflection (UATR), which has been used successfully to polymer analysis at IAE laboratories [6] . Therefore, in this paper, it was evaluated the applicability of the coupling/association TLC /IR techniques for the analysis of two EPDM rubber compositions, aiming to contribute to increase for increasing the knowledge for characterization of additives in rubber by potential reflection techniques, such as UATR.…”

FT-IR methodology (transmission and UATR) to quantify automotive systems

“…With the development of various polymers, there is also the need for the advancement of instrumental analysis techniques in order to determine the chemical structure of new materials and/or quantify them. As known, the FT-IR spectroscopy is one of the techniques that has merit for this purpose and has been successfully applied to various polymer systems in the group's laboratories of the Divisão de Química (AQI) of the Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço (IAE), including the use of last-edge techniques with surface analysis (universal attenuated total reflectance -UATR) in wide spectral range (mid-infrared, MIR, near-infrared, NIR, and others) [9][10][11] . The opportunity to develop a methodology applied to polymer blends, used in the automotive sector, is still not very explored; therefore, in the literature, FT-IR studies could be found for other types of materials for this sector, but not for the proposition of the present research.…”

Determinação por FT-IR de transmissão e reflexão (UATR) de etileno e propileno em EPDM

“…Alguns estudos envolvendo caracterização de borrachas têm sido realizados pelo grupo do Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço (IAE), e por outros pesquisadores, usando-se a espectroscopia no infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FT-IR) [3,[5][6][7][8][9] . Sanches et al [9] usaram técnicas de FT-IR de transmissão para a identificação do polímero base, por transmissão/pirólise líquida e/ou gasosa, e dos aditivos que estão em maior teor na formulação elastomérica, em geral, plastificantes.…”

“…Para a análise das cargas, a microscopia eletrônica de varredura pode, também, ser usada para a caracterização de elementos químicos, mediante o uso de condições de análise/ detectores adequados [10] . Técnicas FT-IR de reflexão, tal como a reflexão total atenuada (ATR) e a universal reflexão total atenuada (UATR) também foram utilizadas, com sucesso, para análise de amostras de EPDM tratadas com plasma [7,8] . As técnicas podem também ser usadas para a caracterização do polímero base [2] .…”