Study of secondary morphological structures in polar rubbers by rheological means

Work presents an attempt to show how secondary networks in polar rubbers, f ormed by orientational and dispersional molecular interactions, affect the rubbers' rheological behavior. Secondary networks are weak and hence strong ly susceptible to strain and temperature. Their strain and thermally induce d breakdown can suitably be followed by rubbers' mechanical dynamic functio ns. For this purpose a model is chosen, whose result is dependence of these functions on strain and temperature during such process, also enabling det ermination of two energies characteristic of the network: the one for its m echanical and the other for its thermal breakdown. The model, originally de vised to describe rheological properties of carbon black filled rubbers, is based on statistical mechanics of chain molecules and a few additional ass umptions, yielding good agreement with experiment.