The effect of a compatibilizer on curing characteristics, mechanical properties and oil resistance of styrene butadiene rubber/epoxidized natural rubber blends

The effect of a compatibilizer, styrene–(epoxidized butadiene)–styrene triblock copolymer (ESBS) on curing characteristics, mechanical properties and oil resistance of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) blends was examined. The results indicate that the increasing compositions of ENR and the presence of ESBS improve processability, tensile strength, tear strength and tensile modulus of SBR/ENR blends. The scorch time, t2 and cure time, t90 decrease with increasing compositions of ENR in the blend. The presence of ESBS exhibits a beneficial effect by increasing the scorch time and decreasing the cure time of the SBR/ENR blends. The presence of ESBS also resulted in SBR/ENR blends having an oil resistance better than the similar blends without ESBS.