Poly(vinyl propionate)-grafted natural rubber as a compatibilizer in vulcanized blends of natural rubber and butadiene-crylonitrile rubber: Effects on morphology, thermal and mechanical properties
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Natural rubber (NR) and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) are typically incompatible due to differences in their polarity, which causes poor mechanical properties.In this study, a new type of compatibilizer, namely G10 or poly(vinyl propionate)-grafted natural rubber (NR-g-PVP) containing 10 wt% PVP, is employed to improve the compatibility in 50/50 blends of NR and NBR.The results show that G10 promotes the compatibility and shifts the glass transition temperatures (T g ) of NR and NBR towards each other.This indicates that G10 interacts with both NR and NBR phases.The improved compatibility resulted in a more homogeneous blend with smooth surface morphology.The mechanical properties of the blend, including 300 and 500% moduli, tensile strength, and tear resistance, increased with G10 content up to 7.5 phr.The highest tensile strength of the NR/NBR blend was achieved with 7.5 phr of G10 compatibilizer, showing an improvement of approximately 40.7% over the control sample.The results clearly revealed that NR-g-PVP can be utilized as an effective compatibilizer in NR/NBR blends.
Source: eXPRESS Polymer Letters
Authors: Abdulhakim Masa, Ruedee Jaratrotkamjorn
Institution: Prince of Songkla University
Language: English
Subfield: Polymers and Plastics
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Prince of Songkla University
OpenAlex ID: W7116748602