AGING AND DEGRADATION OF POLYCHLOROPRENE AND ITS BLENDS WITH ETHYLENE PROPYLENE DIENE RUBBER

The ageing and degradation behaviour of alpha polychloroprene (PCP), control polychloroprene-ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) blend and dibutyl maleate grafted EPDM (EPDMgDBM) and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) compatibilized PCP-EPDM blends have been studied. Air-oven and air-bomb ageing results indicate the superior ageing resistance of the compatibilized blends over the control PCP. Degradation studies have also been carried out by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), which shows the higher onset temperature of degradation of the blends. The morphology of the unaged and aged blends has been studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). SEM studies reveal the formation of a highly dense network morphology on ageing. The aged and unaged samples have also been characterized by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis.