Tensile, flexural and morphological properties of electron beam-crosslinked LDPE–EPDM blends

Abstract

The effect of electron beam (EB) irradiation on the tensile, flexural and morphological properties of low-density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene-propylene diene elastomer (EPDM) blends had been studied in the absence and presence of crosslink promoters, such as trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) and triallyl cyanurate (TAC). Blends were prepared by melt mixing of LDPE and EPDM followed by EB irradiation at various doses. The gel fraction (%) of irradiated blends was increased with an increase in EPDM content as well as EB irradiation dose and consequently the tensile and flexural properties of the blends increased. The incorporation of crosslinking promoters accelerated the gel formation and improved the properties upon irradiation more efficiently. The phase morphology of fractured surface displayed immiscibility with a rough appearance before irradiation. But after irradiation, the surface became fine, smooth and uniform, which went on increasing upon irradiation, supporting the steady increase in mechanical properties. Surface appeared even smoother in the presence of TMPTA and TAC.

Modified ethylene‐propylene‐diene elastomer (EPDM)‐contained silicone rubber/ethylene‐propylene‐diene elastomer (EPDM) blends: Effect of composition and electron beam crosslinking on mechanical, heat shrinkability, electrical, and morphological properties

“…Similar trends in hardness have been observed as intensile strength and modulus. The pure EPDM shows hardness of 65 . In the blend composition as the percentage of SiR increases the hardness goes down.…”

“…The gel fractions of blend are observed to increase by EPDM concentrations and irradiation dose. Pure EPDM shows higher gel fractions compared to all SiR/EPDM samples because the EPDM possesses higher crosslink ability due to its higher amorphousness and molecular structure …”

“…Over the decades, electron beam (EB) crosslinking has become useful technique for property improvement of various polymeric materials for different applications. EB crosslinking has benefits over chemical crosslinking methods, since this method is clean, is at room temperature, is environment friendly, is easily controllable, and is economic …”

Gamma Radiation Processed Polymeric Materials for High Performance Applications: A Review

“…The prepared crosslinked system can be used in o-rings and gaskets applications. They have discovered that the crosslinking increases with increasing EPDM amount and E-Beam doses, which results in the higher mechanical, thermal, and flame resistance properties of the LDPE/EPDM blends system ( Chowdhury et al, 2015 ). It can be seen form comparative study of E-Beam and gamm radiation, the processing time requiredto cure polymer system usinf E-Beam is less which enhancec its output rate and requird less energy as compared to gamma radiation.…”

Vulcanization behavior and thermal performance of peroxide‐curable fluoroelastomer

“…Ray Chowdhury et al reported promoted crosslinking efficiency of TMPTA compared with TAC in EPDM and LDPE-EPDM blends. 7 For peroxide cured FKM, the coagent is indispensable and prefer to be less polar structures for better solubility, 8 such as TAC, TAIC and TMAIC. In addition, TAC was describe as less stable under thermal aging 1,6 and TMAIC did not get much attention as coagent.…”