Preparation and properties of unsaturated zinc carboxylate/EPDM composites

ABSTRACT

The unsaturated zinc carboxylate/Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Monomer (EPDM) composites were prepared by mechanical blending. The effects of hydroxy (2-methylprop-2-enoato-O)zinc (ZMMA) and zinc dimethacrylate (ZDMA) on the hydrophobicity, mechanical properties, ageing resistance, and electrical properties of the composites were studied. The results show that the mechanical properties, crosslinking rate, crosslinking density, and oil resistance of the composite are significantly improved with the increase of ZMMA and ZDMA content. The crosslinking density of EPDM filled with 15 phr of ZDMA composite material is 3.22 × 10⁻³ mol/cm³, compared with the samples without ZDMA filling, the improvement was 175.2%, and the tensile strength reaches 16.9 MPa, which increases by 33.6%. The addition of a small amount of unsaturated carboxylate has a positive effect on the electrical properties of EPDM matrix composites. The volume resistivity of the EPDM filled with 5 phr of ZDMA is 16.2 × 10¹³ Ω·m, an increase of 36.1%.

KEYWORDS:

• EPDM
• vulcanisation characteristics
• unsaturated zinc carboxylate
• volume resistivity
• dielectric properties

Acknowledgments

Funded by Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (ZD2022070)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).