Preparation of Low Temperature Resistant and High Electrical Insulation Chloroprene Rubber–butadiene Rubber Blends

Abstract

To satisfy some special demands of many applications in the fields of aerospace and the electronic industry, low temperature resistant and high electrical insulation chloroprene rubber (CR) was prepared by blending pristine CR with different weight ratios of butadiene rubber (BR). The low temperature resistance, electrical insulation properties, and mechanical properties of CR/BR blends were investigated. With increasing BR content, the low temperature resistance and electrical insulation properties were improved, whereas the tensile strength and elongation at break decreased. For the CR/BR (65/35) blend, filled with SiO2, the brittleness temperature (Tb) was reduced to −61 °C and the high electrical insulation properties were obtained without sacrificing mechanical properties too much. The tan δ plots of CR/BR blends, investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis, also revealed that BR could reduce glass transition temperature (Tg) and improve low temperature resistance of CR. The phase contrast microscope images of CR/BR blends demonstrated that the phase structure of the blends changed with increasing BR content. Furthermore, the fracture surfaces of CR/BR blends, observed by scanning electron microscopy, showed that the compatibility of CR/BR blends was poor although the CR/BR blends were homogeneous in macrostructure.

The role of iron(III) oxide in chloroprene and butadiene rubber blends’ cross-linking, structure, thermal and mechanical characteristics

“…The other ingredient of studied composites-chloroprene rubber (CR)-belongs to the group of special elastomers because of its unique characteristics (polar chain structure, good oil resistance and resistance to flame and ozone) [8,9]. On a large scale, the polymerization of chloroprene is carried out during the free radical emulsion polymerization.…”

“…BR displays low temperature resistance and high electrical insulation properties due to its regular molecular structure, flexible molecular chain and the absence of substituted groups in the main chain. The addition of BR to CR improves low temperature resistance and electrical insulation properties of CR [9]. The elastomeric blend containing chloroprene and butadiene rubbers cross-linked with copper(II) oxide (Cu 2 O) or copper(II) oxide (CuO) was also studied [22].…”

The effect of metal oxide on the cure, morphology, thermal and mechanical characteristics of chloroprene and butadiene rubber blends

“…Chloroprene rubber has recently been combined with other elastomers to achieve special properties of either the CR-based compounds or compounds based on second ingredients. A few reports describe blends of CR with other rubber, such as natural rubber (NR) [10,11], hydrogenated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (HNBR) [12,13], styrene-butadiene rubber [14], butadiene rubber (BR) [15,16] or chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSM) [17] have been published thus far. The Salleh et al [11] investigated two types of blends containing the natural rubber and chloroprene rubber or epoxidized natural rubber and chloroprene rubber.…”

Effect of norbornyl modified soybean oil on CB‐filled chloroprene rubber

“…Zheng et al studied the blend of CR with butadiene rubber (BR). 11 It was found that the addition of BR could increase the low temperature resistance and electrical insulation but decrease the mechanical properties of the blend. Das et al investigated the physical and electrical properties of CR and natural rubber (NR) blends.…”