A study of rheological behavior and compatibility of NR/BR blends

In this study, we research the Mooney viscosity, curing rates, and processibility of natural rubber (NR) and polybutadiene rubber (BR) blends at different blending ratios. The changing values are measured during vulcanization processing and were tested by Mooney viscometer, Monsanto viscometer, etc. The results of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) experiments are used to explore the surface morphologies and molecular mobility of NR/BR blends. The experimental results indicate that Mooney viscosity tends to decrease with increasing NR content of NR/BR blends, and this results in superior processibility of NR/BR blends with increasing NR content. NR/BR blends' curing rate improved with increasing NR content. The DMA experimental results show that the temperature is suitable to produce a character peak (T-alpha n) in molecular motions of NR/BR blends. There tends to a lower temperature range with decreasing NR content of NR/BR blends. In addition, T-alpha b would move to a lower temperature with decreasing BR content of NR/BR blends.