Study of Phase Structure of Non-Aqueous Physical Gel Produced by Semi-Crystalline Hydrogenated Styrene-Butadiene Rubber and Asphalt.

Structure formation and mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomer and oil system having a microcellular porous structure

“…It is clearly shown that the modulus in the experimental data is smaller than that estimated by the model in the cases of 8 and 4 vol %. We reported in a previous article6 that the polymer network structure over the system was imperfect in such a small proportion of polymer. The polymer network is not uniform over the system in those cases, and thus the disagreement of those cases is thought to be somewhat defective in real materials.…”

“…Figure 1(a) shows an optical micrograph of the H‐SBR/asphalt system (polymer concentration ϕ = about 12 vol %). Asphalt was washed out by xylene and dried as reported in previous article 6. The bright area corresponds to the polymer‐rich phase, and the dark area corresponds to the extracted asphalt‐rich phase.…”

“…A similar process was also used to make conventional (without microphase structure) asphalt‐extended–polymer compounds consisting of large proportions of polymer (about 90 to 50 vol %) and small proportions of asphalt (about 10 to 50 vol %). Observation of morphologies of the system was performed by conventional optical microscopy 5, 6. Samples for the extension test were cut to DIN‐3–type dumbbells from the sheet.…”

“…Recently we proposed novel nonaqueous physical gels prepared with small proportions of semicrystalline thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and large proportions of oils of low molecular weight 4–8. Observed with optical microscope, the systems consist of three‐dimensional continuous polymer networks constituted by spherical open cells of a few tens of micrometers in diameter.…”