Fluoroelastomers: synthesis, properties and applications

The review seeks to cover recent developments in the area of fluorinated el astomers. It reports that, except for isolated cases, most fluoroelastomers are synthesized by radical co-, ternary or tetrapolymerizations. Hence, af ter reminding the most known syntheses of fluoroalkenes involved in the pre paration of these fluoropolymers and recent achievements of block, graft an d alternating copolymers, several academic laws and concepts (e,g, kinetics ) of the copolymerization are presented. The section dealing with the synth esis of fluoroelastomers is divided into two parts: the first one covers th e preparation of fluorinated copolymers containing tetrafluoroethylene, whi le the second one extensively describes the preparation of fluoroelastomers based on vinylidene fluoride. This section also points out recent synthese s on novel reactive functional trifluorovinyl or vinyl ether monomers for e asy curing of original fluoropolymers. Then, heteroatom-containing fluoroel astomers are briefly summarized. Various methods of curing are reported in the following section while the next one describes ingredients used in form ulations of fluoroelastomeric systems. This review also covers compounding and processing of this class of fluoropolymers. Finally, a summary of vario us properties and applications of fluoroelastomers is presented showing how such products resistant to severe conditions are useful in modem industrie s. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.