VISCOSITIES OF ETHYLENE-PROPYLENE DIENE TERPOLYMER BLENDS IN OIL

Viscosities were obtained on oil solutions of two ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymers (EPDMs) and their blends. For the amorphous terpolymer with 59 mol % ethylene, intrinsic viscosities were constant between -10 and 40-degrees-C. The viscosities decreased rapidly at low temperature for blends of this material with as little as 20 wt % of a slightly crystalline EPDM with 79 mol % ethylene. Dynamic viscosity measurements on 1.0% solutions of blends likewise gave considerably smaller values at low temperature than measurements on an amorphous EPDM of similar molecular weight. The data are in agreement with the view that longer ethylene sequences that crystallize in the bulk polymer can organize in oil into ordered domains that interfere less with flow than the disordered amorphous polymer regions.