The effect of paraffin oil on the structure of vulcanisates of ternary ethylene propylene diene elastomers

摘要

An investigation was made of the process of vulcanisation of ternary ethylene propylene diene elastomers (SKEPTs) with different contents of paraffin oil. Sol-gel analysis was carried out, and the crosslink density of the obtained vulcanisates was determined. The structure of the obtained vulcanisates was investigated using atomic force microscopy. It was shown that the process of vulcanising SKEPTs proceeds inhomogeneously within the specimen. There are both sparsely and densely crosslinked regions: darker unstructured zones are lightly crosslinked by comparison with the lighter regions. The presence of oil in the rubber promotes a more homogeneous crosslink distribution within the specimen.