Electron Beam Curing of EVM and HNBR for Cable Compounds

摘要

Due to their balanced profile of properties, EVM (Levapren~R) and HNBR (Therban~R) rubbers are well suited for cable applications in harsh environments. Cables used for military and navy must comply with very high requirements in terms of swelling in aggressive media (oils, ester based fluids, diesel) as well as high temperature resistance and mechanical performance. The properties of the finished rubber parts are defined by the microstructure of the polymers, the type and strength of the network formed during the electron beam treatment and by the interaction of the polymer matrix with reinforcing fillers. In this paper we systematically analyse the influence of radiation dosage and type and amount of coagents -typical for peroxide cure- on the crosslinking density of the resulting vulcanisates of HNBR, EVM and 75/25 HNBR and EVM blends. Based on our findings we are able to select the right polymer / blend composition as well as dosage of coagent and radiation to optimise the network density of electron beam cured compounds based on EVM and HNBR. Thus, an optimisation of technologically relevant properties of EVM and HNBR based compounds for specific applications can be achieved through selection of the specific coagent, polymer blending ratio and radiation dosage.