Influence of Modified Epoxy Dian Resin on Properties of Nitrile-Butadiene Rubber (NBR)

Due to the increasingly higher requirements for rubber vulcanizates, following the example of previous research on the effect of resin addition on mechanical properties and adhesion of rubbers, the following studies investigated the relationship between the addition of adipic acid-modified epoxy dian resin (ED-24 AK) to butadiene-acrylonitrile rubber (NBR). It can be seen that the addition of ED-24 AK, compared to the reference additive ED-20 (Epidian 5), additionally increase crosslinking density of the system, changes its mechanical and tribological properties, and exerts a positive effect on adhesion of the rubber vulcanizates to glass fiber. ED-20 and ED-24 AK resins do not enter the structure of the vulcanized rubber but act as the additives. ED-20 acts without changes in its structure, and ED-24 AK is a partially crosslinked additive. Modification, especially with ED-24 AK, makes mechanical strength of NBR increased even up to 240% in comparison to virgin rubber vulcanizate. This is responsible for lower friction of the vulcanizates. The decrease in the friction force of NBR due to the modified dian resin addition can reach up to 40%. Adhesion of the modified NBR to glass fibers increases due to its modification with the epoxy resins, however this time the ED-24 is more efficient than ED-24 AK reaching ca. 50% increase comparing to ca. 20% improvement, respectively. The best performance of the resins Generally, the best modification results were obtained when the addition of resins did not exceed 5 phr.