ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF THERMOPLASTIC ELASTOMERS ON THE BASIS OF DYNAMIC VULCANIZED PP EPDM-BLENDS

Tension set and repeated tensile stress tests were set up to characterize the elastic properties of silane-crosslinked thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) Mechanical hysteresis curves show that the TPE becomes more and more elastic with an increasing number of cycles. The continuous thermoplastic PP-matrix prevents a stop in the increase of residual strain. Exceeding a characteristic stress level which depends on the portion, the molecular weight, and the type of the PP-component in the TPE an increased cold flow of the PP-matrix leads to high residual strain values.