Dynamic-mechanical properties of polybutadiene rubbers

The dynamic properties of high-cis (98%) and cis-trans (42% cis) polybutadienes, crosslinked with 0.1 to 1.0% of crosslinking agent, have been studied using a torsion pendulum method over the temperature range ?170 to +20°C. For the high-cis rubber plots of damping factor (tan δ) against temperature showed the expected peak in the glass-transition region with an additional peak in the neighbourhood of 0°C attributable to crystallization. The cis-trans rubber showed two damping maxima in the transition region, separated by 30 to 40°C (depending on the degree of crosslinking), suggesting incipient phase separation of the component structures. The rebound resilience of the high-cis rubber at room temperature exceeded that of the cis-trans, reaching 92% at the highest crosslink density. Plots of resilience versus temperature for both rubbers showed a single minimum in the glass transition region.