Author(s)

Khalil Ahmed, Shaikh Sirajuddin Nizami, Nudrat Zahid Raza, Khaula Shirin

Applied Chemistry Research Centre, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories Complex, Karachi, Pakistan.
Department of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.

In the present study, attempts have been made to modify Marble Sludge (MS) filled Ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) with Chloroprene rubber (CR). Compounding was carried out on a two-roll mill and vulcanized at 155℃. The modified blend of MS filed EPDM/CR was characterized on the basis of the effect of blend ratio on cure characteristics, mechanical and swelling properties of blends were investigated. The effect of thermal aging on mechanical and swelling behavior in aromatic, aliphatic and chlorinated solvents of cured MS filled EPDM/CR blend was also examined. The minimum torque and maximum torque of the blend first increased and then slightly decreased after the increasing of CR content in MS filled EPDM/CR blends. Scorch time, cure time, cure rate index, tensile strength, tear strength, hardness increased with increasing CR content in the MS filled EPDM compound, but elongation at break, resilience, abrasion loss, mole % uptake, swelling index and percentage of soluble fraction decreased, resilience, abrasion loss, mole % uptake, swelling index and percentage of soluble fraction decreases. Accelerated aging performance of cured composites also influenced by increasing CR content in MS filled EPDM compound.

Marble Sludge; Cure Characteristics; Mechanical Properties; Swelling Parameters; Aging

K. Ahmed, S. Sirajuddin Nizami, N. Zahid Raza and K. Shirin, "Cure Characteristics, Mechanical and Swelling Properties of Marble Sludge Filled EPDM Modified Chloroprene Rubber Blends," Advances in Materials Physics and Chemistry, Vol. 2 No. 2, 2012, pp. 90-97. doi: 10.4236/ampc.2012.22016.