CHARACTERIZATION OF CROSS-LINK DENSITY IN TECHNICAL ELASTOMERS BY THENMR-MOUSE

NMR is a powerful tool in characterizing cross-link density in elastom ers. Conventional NMR, however, restricts the sample geometry and does not allow measurements in presence of ferromagnetic materials. The co ncept of the MOUSE (mobile universal surface explorer) circumvents the se restrictions. This surface sensitive method deals with rather inhom ogeneous magnetic fields instead of the highly homogeneous fields norm ally used in NMR. Therefore, pulse sequences are reinvestigated with r espect to their sensitivity towards residual dipolar coupling in elast omers. Examples for investigations of technical elastomers and correla tions of NMR results with data from macroscopic mechanical measurement s are presented. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.