Synthesis and Characterization of Porous Oil Gels based on EPDM/4-tert-Butylstyrene

摘要

By overcoming the high viscosity of the EPDM/diluent mixture and temperature sensitivity of reaction system, a series of bead-shape oil gels based on 4- tert-butylstyrene (tBS) and ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) were successfully synthesized using suspension polymerization in the presence of suspending agent of gelatine, tricalcium phosphate and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS). Divinylbenzene (DVB) and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) were employed as crosslinker and initiator, respectively. Toluene, cyclohexane and their mixtures with different compositions were used as pore-forming diluents. The existence of grafted poly (EPDM/tBS) were determined by FTIR spectrometer and verified by thin-layer chromatography (TLC), respectively. The influences of diluent type, dosage and composition on the surface morphology of oil gels were measured with scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was shown that the pore size on the surface of gels became smaller with an increase of toluene content when the toluene/cyclohexane mixture was employed as diluent, concomitancy with the pore-size distribution more uniform. As pure toluene was used as diluent, the surface of produced gels became coarser and the number of pores increased with increasing of toluene dosage, and the optimized pore structure was obtained when toluene dosage was 30ml, after which the pores collapsed.