Thermo-oxidative stability of rubber magnetic composites cured with sulfur, peroxide and mixed curing systems

Rubber magnetic composites were prepared by incorporation of strontium ferrite into rubber matrices based on natural rubber (NR) and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber. The sulphur, peroxide and mixed sulphur/peroxide curing systems were applied for cross-linking of rubber compounds. The main goal of the work was to investigate the influence of the curing system composition on the physical–mechanical and magnetic properties of prepared composites. The thermo-oxidative stability of the composite materials was assessed by evaluation of thermogravimetric analysis and ageing test. The results showed that the composition of curing system influences the physical–mechanical properties of composites, but in strong dependence on the type of rubber matrix. After exposure of test sample to the conditions of thermo-oxidative ageing, the changes in composite properties were also recorded. The influence of thermo-oxidative degradation was more pronounced in the case of composites based on NR, where the sample cured only with peroxide system was almost completely degraded in the given conditions of ageing. On the other hand, the magnetic characteristics of composites seem to be influenced neither by curing system composition nor by ageing.