Vulcanization Kinetic Study of Different Nitrile Rubber (NBR) Compounds

Summary The vulcanization process of rubber compounds comprises multiple chemical reactions and the investigation of this process can be carried out using several techniques. This paper aims at investigating the influence of acrylonitrile content (28, 33 and 45%) and the presence of a carboxyl group in the vulcanization process of nitrile rubber. A methodology that uses rheometric parameters to determinate the cure rate constant ( k ) and activation energy (E) was conducted. The results showed that there was a decrease in cure rate constant with increasing of acrylonitrile content in the rubber, for a given vulcanization temperature. Furthermore, a higher value of activation energy was obtained for the 33% of acrylonitrile compound.