Abrasion Property of Epoxidized Natural Rubber

The abrasion resistance of two grades of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR 25 and ENR 50) and one grade of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) were studied using an Akron abrasion tester. An accelerated sulfur vulcanization system with 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) as the accelerator is used throughout the study. Carbon black (N 330), precipitated silica, and calcium carbonate were chosen as the fillers. The range of sulfur and filler loadings was from 1 to 5 phr and 10 to 50 phr, respectively. Mixing was done on a two-roll mill. Results obtained show that for all the rubbers studied, the volume loss due to abrasion decreases with increasing sulfur loading and passes through a minimum at about 3 phr of sulfur. This observation is attributed to the changes of cross-link types from monosulfidic to polysulfidic crosslink as sulfur concentration is increased. However, further sulfur loading would cause a “tight” cure, thus increasing the abrasion loss. For sulfur loading less than 3 phr, ENR 25 indicates the highest abrasion loss, followed by SBR and ENR 50. For the filled stock, minimum loss is observed at about 35–40 phr of filler. Reinforcing filler such as carbon black exhibits better abrasion resistance than calcium carbonate, a nonreinforcing filler. The abrasion loss increases at higher filler loading due to the dilution effect of fillers. Ozone plays an important role in the abrasion property of unsaturated rubbers, as reflected by the higher abrasion loss in the presence of ozone.