Abstract
The transport behaviour of aliphatic hydrocarbon liquids through crosslinked natural rubber/polystyrene blends has been studied in the temperature range of 28–58°C. Natural rubber/polystyrene blends were dynamically crosslinked using different vulcanising systems, i.e., sulphur, peroxide and a mixed system consisting of peroxide and sulphur. The sorption behaviour of the above systems was analysed in three different solvents viz., mineral turpentine, diesel and petrol. The effects of various vulcanising systems, temperature, blend composition and solvents on different sorption parameters were studied. The mechanism of transport showed anomalous behaviour in all the systems. The sorption data have been used to estimate the activation energy, the enthalpy and entropy of sorption, diffusion coefficient and polymer-solvent interaction parameter. Arrhenius activation parameters for diffusion, permeation and sorption have been estimated. The first and second order kinetic equations were used to study the sorption kinetics. Finally, the experimental results were compared with theoretical models.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.