SULFUR VULCANISATION

Peroxides. Peroxides are probably the most common materials used after sulfur because of their abiUty to cross-link a variety of diene- and non diene-containing elastomers, and their abiUty to produce thermally stable carbon—carbon cross-links. Carbon—carbon bonds are inherently stronger than the carbon—sulfur bonds developed with sulfur vulcanisation (21). 

The terminal double bond is active with respect to polymerisation, whereas the internal unsaturation remains in the resulting terpolymer as a pendent location for sulfur vulcanisation. The polymer is poly(ethylene- (9-prop5iene- (9-l,4-hexadiene) [25038-37-3]. 

W. H. Helt and D. Sikora, Accelerated Sulfur Vulcanisation, at the ACS Meeting of the 147th Rubber Division, Philadelphia, Pa., May 2—5, 1995, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. 

Most EPDM applications require crosslinking except when used as an impact modifier for PP, polystyrene (PS) and polyamides or as an oil additive, e.g., as viscosity index improver or dispersant. Most commonly, accelerated sulfur vulcanisation is used for the crosslinking of EPDM. As a result of the low amount of unsaturation in EPDM (< 1 mole/ kg versus NR -15 mole/kg), sulfur vulcanisation of EPDM is rather slow and a relatively large amount of accelerators is needed. Because of the low polarity of EPDM the solubility of polar accelerators is limited, often resulting in low effectivity and/or blooming. Typically, up to 5 different accelerators are used in EPDM formulations. As for other rubbers environmental issues, such as nitrosamine formation and may be in the future the presence of zinc, are prompting the development of new accelerator systems. 

The technology of sulfur vulcanisation of unsaturated elastomers has evolved since Goodyear s invention in 1839. Scientific studies into the chemistry of sulfur vulcanisation started to appear in the late 1950s (for reviews see References [14-18]). Two experimental approaches can be distinguished the analysis of rubber vulcanisates themselves and the so-called low-molecular-weight model studies. 

Therefore most progress towards the understanding of sulfur-vulcanisation chemistry was originally made by vulcanising low-molecular-weight model olefins. Numerous... 

Over the last decade the development of advanced analytical techniques, such as Fourier transform (FT) Raman and solid-state NMR spectroscopy, have been impressive, resulting in a great deal of progress in the field of the sulfur vulcanisation of unsaturated elastomers [22-25]. 

In general, most of the problems encountered in the study of the chemistry of the sulfur vulcanisation of elastomers are also encountered in the study of peroxide-curing. In comparison with sulfur vulcanisation only a limited number of spectroscopic studies on peroxide-curing have been published. 

Chen and co-workers tentatively assigned new signals in the FT-IR spectra of accelerated sulfur-vulcanised NR to the formation of C-S and S-S bonds corresponding to monosulfides, disulfides and polysulfides [68]. The vulcanisation of NR was retarded when clay was added to the NR compound. 

Recently, it was shown using FT-IR that the decrease of vulcanisation rate and final crosslink density of sulfur vulcanised NR upon increasing silica content may be related to increased absorption of zinc stearate onto the silica surface [69]. 

Schotman and co-workers tentatively assigned the new Raman peaks at 1625 and 1592 cm 1 observed during sulfur vulcanisation of squalene, to the formation of conjugated dienes and trienes, respectively [70]. When vulcanisation was carried out in the presence of l,3-di(citraconimidomethyl)benzene, this resulted in a reduced intensity of these two new peaks, corroborating that conjugated dienes and trienes, formed as a result of reversion, react with the diimide. Obviously, the diimide is not an anti-reversion agent in the sense that it prevents reversion, but it is in the sense that it repairs crosslinks when reversion has occurred. 

The results of the optical spectroscopy studies into sulfur vulcanisation of polydiene rubbers correspond well with the results obtained via low molecular weight model olefin studies and solid state 13C NMR studies. From all these studies the mechanism for accelerated sulfur vulcanisation as shown in Figure 6.2 has emerged [14-18], which is... 

The mechanism of the accelerated sulfur vulcanisation of EPDM is probably similar to that of the highly unsaturated polydiene rubbers. The vulcanisation of EPDM has been studied with emphasis on the cure behaviour and mechanical and elastic properties of the crosslinked EPDM. Hardly any spectroscopic studies on the crosslinking chemistry of EPDM have been published, not only because of the problems discussed in Section 6.1.3 but also because of the low amount of unsaturation of EPDM relative to the sensitivity of the analytical techniques. For instance, high-temperature magic-angle spinning solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy of crosslinked EPDM just allows the identification of the rubber type, but spectroscopic evidence for the presence of crosslinks is not found [72]. 

Only two spectroscopic studies on sulfur vulcanisation of EPDM by Fujimoto and coworkers are available [73-74], Using attenuated total reflectance (ATR) IR spectroscopy they showed that during sulfur/TMTD/MBT/ZnO/stearic acid vulcanization, the C=C bands at 3035, 966 and 870 cm 1 of the residual unsaturations of the EPDM third monomers, DCPD, 1,4-hexadiene (HD) and 5-methylidene-2-norbornene (MNB), respectively, decreased in intensity as a function of time at 140 and 150 °C. The relative decrease in intensity was shown to correlate with the increase in crosslink density. In Sections 6.2.2.2 and 6.2.2.3 it will be shown that this decrease of intensity should not be interpreted as a loss of unsaturation during sulfur vulcanisation of EPDM. 

After these early studies an extensive FT-Raman study [77] was performed to bridge the gap between the low-molecular-weight ENBH model vulcanisation studies and the vulcanisation studies using high-molecular-weight EPDM. These studies will be presented in detail. First, a series of low-molecular-weight dialkenylsulfides will be discussed in order to determine the effect of sulfur vulcanisation on Raman spectra of olefins. Subsequently, the attachment of the sulfur crosslinks at the allylic positions, the conversion of ENB, the length of sulfur crosslinks and the network structure will be addressed for unfilled sulfur vulcanisates of amorphous EPDM. Some preliminary network structure/ properties relationships will also be presented. 

The FT-Raman spectra of the sulfur vulcanisates of the various model olefins do not contain the characteristic disulfide signal at 510 cm"1, but do contain the typical higher sulfide bands at 490, 460 and 440 cm"1 (Table 6.2). In addition, a new band at about 475 cm 1 is observed for the vulcanisates of 2-methyl-2-pentene and 3-hexene, which has not yet been assigned (hexasulfide ). Results of HPLC analysis have shown that the vulcanisate of 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene consists mainly of a mixture of disulfide to pentasulfide with about 15 mole% of disulfide [79]. This illustrates that FT-Raman spectroscopy is not very sensitive for the identification of disulfides. Because of an overlap of signals, FT-Raman does not provide detailed, quantitative information on the presence of the individual higher sulfides (S>2). 

It has been shown that during sulfur vulcanisation of EPDM the C=C peak of the residual ENB unsaturation at 1685 cm 1 seems to decrease in intensity in agreement with the observations by Fujimoto and co-workers [73,74] (see Section 6.2.2.1). However, in Section 6.2.2.2 it was shown that sulfur vulcanisation of the low-molecular-weight ENBH results in a shift of the Raman C=C peak from 1688 to 1678 cm 1. Taking this into account a closer inspection of the FT-Raman spectra reveals that the original C=C peak at 1690 cm"1 decreases in intensity, and a new peak is observed at 1681 cm"1. Actually, the C=C peak broadens towards lower wave numbers, but in a first approximation the total area remains constant. So, the sulfur substitution reaction of the allylic hydrogens is confirmed for the polymer system. This corresponds to the observation by Koenig and co-workers, namely that upon sulfur vulcanisation of cz s-BR, the C=C peak at 1650 cm 1 decreases in intensity and that of a new peak at 1633 cm-1 increases its intensity [19, 58]. 

The analytical techniques discussed previously can be used to study the EPDM network as such or its formation in time as well as to determine relationships between the network structure and the properties of the vulcanisates. In a preliminary approach some typical vulcanised EPDM properties, i.e., hardness, tensile strength, elongation at break and tear strength, have been plotted as a function of chemical crosslink density (Figure 6.6). The latter is either determined directly via 1H NMR relaxation time measurements or calculated from the FT-Raman ENB conversion (Table 6.3). It is concluded that for these unfilled, sulfur-vulcanised, amorphous EPDM, the chemical crosslink density is the main parameter determining the vulcanisate properties. It is beyond the purpose of this review to discuss these relationships in a more detailed and theoretical way. 

The mechanism of peroxide crosslinking of elastomers is much less intricate than that of sulfur vulcanisation. Crosslinking is initiated by the thermal decomposition of a peroxide, which is the overall cure rate determining step. Next, the active radicals thus formed abstract hydrogen from elastomer chains to form macroradicals. Finally, crosslinking results either from the combination of two macroradicals or from the addition of a macroradical to an unsaturated moiety of another primary elastomer chain. 

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