Journal
POLYMERS
Volume 8, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/polym8040127
Keywords
thermoplastic vulcanizate; morphological evolution; tensile properties; elasticity; melt processability
Categories
Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China [2011CB606003]
- Doctoral Science Research Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China [20130010110005]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51221002]
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We previously reported that the dispersed rubber microparticles in ethylene-propylenediene monomer (EPDM)/polypropylene (PP) thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) are actually agglomerates of rubber nanoparticles. In this study, based on this new understanding of the microstructure of TPV, we further revealed the microstructure-properties relationship of EPDM/PP TPV during dynamic vulcanization, especially the effect of the size of rubber nanoparticle agglomerates (d(n)), the thicknesses of PP ligaments (IDpoly) and the rubber network on the properties of EPDM/PP TPV. We were able to simultaneously obtain a high tensile strength, elongation at break, elastic modulus, and elasticity for the EPDM/PP TPV by the achievement of a smaller d(n), a thinner IDpoly and a denser rubber network. Interestingly, the effect of d(n) and IDpoly on the elastic modulus of EPDM/PP TPV composed of rubber nanoparticle agglomerates is different from that of EPDM/PP TPVs composed of rubber microparticles reported previously. The deformation behavior of the TPVs during stretching was studied to understand the mechanism for the achievement of good mechanical properties. Interestingly, the rubber nanoparticle agglomerates are oriented along the tensile direction during stretching. The TPV samples with smaller and more numerous rubber nanoparticle agglomerates can slow down the development of voids and cracks more effectively, thus leading to increase in tensile strength and elongation at break of the EPDM/PP TPV.
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