Mechanical and swelling properties of thermoplastic elastomer blends

The mechanical behavior, microhardness and abrasion resistance of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) vulcanizate loaded with 40 phr fast extrusion furnace (FEF) carbon black nanopowder and different concentrations of suspension polymerization polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were studied. The measured parameters (i.e., the Young's modulus, tensile strength, and elongation at break) varied with the concentration of PVC. Both the elastic modulus and the tensile strength increased with increasing PVC loadings while the elongation at brake recorded a linear decrease. The hardness degree and the abraded mass increased as the concentration of PVC increased. The classical theory of rubber elasticity was used to calculate the rubbery modulus, the number of effective chains per unit volume and the average molecular weight. Swelling measurements were done on the mentioned samples. Addition of PVC was found to decrease the maximum degree of swelling, the penetration rate and the average diffusion coefficient. Swelling was found to slightly affect the degree of hardness and elastic modulus. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.