Elastomer elastic modulus

Tackifying resins enhance the adhesion of non-polar elastomers by improving wettability, increasing polarity and altering the viscoelastic properties. Dahlquist [31 ] established the first evidence of the modification of the viscoelastic properties of an elastomer by adding resins, and demonstrated that the performance of pressure-sensitive adhesives was related to the creep compliance. Later, Aubrey and Sherriff [32] demonstrated that a relationship between peel strength and viscoelasticity in natural rubber-low molecular resins blends existed. Class and Chu [33] used the dynamic mechanical measurements to demonstrate that compatible resins with an elastomer produced a decrease in the elastic modulus at room temperature and an increase in the tan <5 peak (which indicated the glass transition temperature of the resin-elastomer blend). Resins which are incompatible with an elastomer caused an increase in the elastic modulus at room temperature and showed two distinct maxima in the tan <5 curve. 

We therefore have qualitative evidence for the dependence of the dewetting speed on the elastic properties of the substrate. Dependence of wetting on the elastic modulus was previously suggested in the case of thin substrates [31], It may be conjectured that cross-linking affects the surface properties of the elastomer and, therefore, wettability. However,... 

Polarization in the point dipole model occurs not at the surface of the particle but within it. If dipoles form in particles, an interaction between dipoles occurs more or less even if they are in a solid-like matrix [48], The interaction becomes strong as the dipoles come close to each other. When the particles contact each other along the applied electric field, the interaction reaches a maximum. A balance between the particle interaction and the elastic modulus of the solid matrix is important for the ER effect to transpire. If the elastic modulus of the solid-like matrix is larger than the sum of the interactions of the particles, the ER effect may not be observed macroscopically. Therefore, the matrix should be a soft material such as gels or elastomers to produce the ER effect. 

Elastic Modulus, Network Structure, and Ultimate Tensile Properties of Single-Phase Polyurethane Elastomers... 

This is a theoretical study on the structure and modulus of a composite polymeric network formed by two intermeshing co-continuous networks of different chemistry, which interact on a molecular level. The rigidity of this elastomer is assumed to increase with the number density of chemical crosslinks and trapped entanglements in the system. The latter quantity is estimated from the relative concentration of the individual components and their ability to entangle in the unmixed state. The equilibrium elasticity modulus is then calculated for both the cases of a simultaneous and sequential interpenetrating polymer network. 

Most polymers are applied either as elastomers or as solids. Here, their mechanical properties are the predominant characteristics quantities like the elasticity modulus (Young modulus) E, the shear modulus G, and the temperature-and frequency dependences thereof are of special interest when a material is selected for an application. The mechanical properties of polymers sometimes follow rules which are quite different from those of non-polymeric materials. For example, most polymers do not follow a sudden mechanical load immediately but rather yield slowly, i.e., the deformation increases with time ( retardation ). If the shape of a polymeric item is changed suddenly, the initially high internal stress decreases slowly ( relaxation ). Finally, when an external force (an enforced deformation) is applied to a polymeric material which changes over time with constant (sinus-like) frequency, a phase shift is observed between the force (deformation) and the deformation (internal stress). Therefore, mechanic modules of polymers have to be expressed as complex quantities (see Sect. 2.3.5). 

Curve El in Fig. 2.21 corresponds to an elastomer (statistic copolymer from ethylene and propylene), characterized by a low value of the elastic modulus... 

Fig. 2.22. Dependence of the elastic modulus E and the mechanical loss factor 6 on temperature for various polymers. Curves 1 elastomer (statistical copolymer of ethylene and propylene) curves 2 isotactic polypropylene (semicrystalline)...

Fillers are solid materials that are dispersed in plastics and elastomers. One distinguishes between inactive fillers that are used in the first place to make the plastics less expensive and active fillers (reinforcing fillers) that improve specific mechanical properties and thus effect a reinforcement . With the aid of these fillers, the elastic modulus, hardness, and thermostability are enhanced predominantly, whereas the impact strength of thermoplastic niaterials is re-... 

Elastomers exhibit this behavior due to their unique, crosslinked structure (cf. Section 1.3.2.2). It has been found that as the temperatme of an elastomer increases, so does the elastic modulus. The elastic modulus is simply a measme of the resistance to the uncoiling of randomly oriented chains in an elastomer sample under stress. Application of a stress eventually tends to untangle the chains and align them in the direction of the stress, but an increase in temperatme will increase the thermal motion of the chains and make it harder to induce orientation. This leads to a higher elastic modulus. Under a constant force, some chain orientation will take place, but an increase in temperatme will stimulate a reversion to a randomly coiled conformation and the elastomer will contract. 

Identical to chemically cross-linked (vulcanized) elastomers, the modulus of radiation cured gum elastomers depends on the concentration of elastically effective network strands and temperature. ... 

Three common methods of measuring crosslinking (swelling, elastic modulus, and gel point measurements) have recently been critically appraised by Dole (14). A fourth method using a plot of sol + sol against the reciprocal dose has also been used extensively. However, Lyons (23) has pointed out that this relation, even for polyethylenes of closely random distribution, does not have the rectilinear form required by the statistical theory of crosslinking. Flory (19) pointed out many years ago that the extensibility of a crosslinked elastomer should vary as the square root of the distance between crosslinks. More recently Case (4, 5) has calculated that the extensibility of an elastomer is given by ... 

Carboxylated nitrile rubber (XNBR), a high-performance elastomer, is remarkable for providing vulcanizates that exhibit enhanced tensile strength, elastic modulus, hardness, and improved resistance to tear, abrasion, and the deleterious action of... 

Improvement of the mechanical properties of elastomers is usually reached by their reinforcement with fillers. Traditionally, carbon black, silica, metal oxides, some salts and rigid polymers are used. The elastic modulus, tensile strength, and swelling resistence are well increased by such reinforcement. A new approach is based on block copolymerization yielding thermoelastoplastics, i.e. block copolymers with soft (rubbery) and hard (plastic) blocks. The mutual feature of filled rubbers and the thermoelastoplastics is their heterogeneous structure u0). 

In the presence of reinforcing fillers, the elasticity modulus of the elastomers increases in first approximation according to the Guth-Smallwood equation 1111171... 

So far, we have considered the elasticity of filler networks in elastomers and its reinforcing action at small strain amplitudes, where no fracture of filler-filler bonds appears. With increasing strain, a successive breakdown of the filler network takes place and the elastic modulus decreases rapidly if a critical strain amplitude is exceeded (Fig. 42). For a theoretical description of this behavior, the ultimate properties and fracture mechanics of CCA-filler clusters in elastomers have to be evaluated. This will be a basic tool for a quantitative understanding of stress softening phenomena and the role of fillers in internal friction of reinforced rubbers. 

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