Thermal properties of swollen butadiene-acrylonitrile rubber vulcanizates

The present paper discusses the results of assessing thermal properties of nitrile rubber, Perbunan NT 3945 and its peroxide vulcanizates, before and after their swelling in solvents such as benzene, toluene and dimethylformamide. The measurements were carried out by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG) under nitrogen. It has been found that a slight rise in the glass transition temperature due to the elastomer cross-linking is clearly revealed under the influence of its vulcanizates swelling in solvents whose solubility parameters considerably differ from the solubility parameters of the polymer. The thermal curves of swollen samples reveal processes resulting from polymer-solvent interactions and thermodesolvation processes, which accompany the initial stage of solvent evaporation.