Abstract
In order to study the effect of liquid crystalline polymers (LCP) as reinforcing agents for polyacrylic elastomer (ACM), blends of ACM and a liquid crystalline polymer were prepared. These blends were cured with ammonium benzoate and Diak-4, 4,4'-methylen ebis(cyclohexylamine) carbamate in order to understand the curing behaviour of ACM in presence of LCP. A rheometric study of the blends indicated an improved state of cure in presence of Diak-4, but a deteriorated state of cure in presence of ammonium benzoate. All the blends showed substantial improvement in modulus and tear strength with the increasing amounts of LCP however; this improvement was predominant when Diak-4 was used as a curing agent. The tensile strength of the blends decreased with increasing LCP content, attributed to lack of interfacial adhesion between ACM and LCP, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found from the X-rd measurements that LCP acts as a nucleating agent by increasing the crystallinity of the blend. The degradation temperatures and heats of degradation deduced from the thermal analysis suggested that ACM had reduced thermal stability when in presence of LCP. A dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) study revealed the improved storage modulus of the blends with increasing LCP content.