The Curing Characteristics and Mechanical Properties of Wood Sawdust/Carbon Black Filled Ethylene Propylene Diene Rubber Composites

Abstract

In this research work, ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) composites were prepared by incorporating wood sawdust and carbon black on a 2 roll mill. The effect of wood sawdust content on the curing characteristics and mechanical properties of EPDM composites were studied. When the size of wood sawdust was fixed, it was found that wood sawdust content had no effect on scorch time. The cure time, minimum torque and maximum torque increased with increasing wood sawdust content. Increasing the wood sawdust content tended to increase the hardness of the composites, but the tensile strength and elongation at break decreased, heat ageing resistance and ozone resistance slightly decreased. Moreover, the types and concentrations of coupling agents were compared between silane Si69 and epoxidized natural rubber, ENR-50 (50 % mol epoxide groups) on the mechanical properties of EPDM composites. It was found that a silane Si69 concentration of 2.0 wt % of wood sawdust improved the mechanical properties of the EPDM composites but ENR-50 was not able to improve interfacial adhesion between the wood sawdust and EPDM matrix.