ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF GRAFTED AND UNGRAFTED POLYACRYLAMIDE-RUBBER BLENDS

A systematic dielectric and mechanical study was carried out on an eth ylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and a nitrile rubber (NBR) blende d with polyacrylamide (PAM). From the compatibility investigations, it was found that EPDM/PAM is incompatible while NBR/PAM is semicompatib le. To overcome the problem of phase separation between rubber and PAM , PAM was grafted with two different monomers, acrylonitrile (AN) and acrylic acid (AA), and added with 10 phr to both EPDM and NBR. Poly(vi nyl chloride) (PVC) was also added as a compatiblizing agent to both t ypes of blend. It was concluded that the addition of either a grafted polymer or PVC to the rubber-plastic blend could improve to some exten t the compatibility of such blends. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.