This paper presents the crosslinking study at room temperature of epoxidised natural rubber (ENR), of 25% of epoxidation level, with a curing agent containing thiol trimethylolpropane tris(2-mercaptoacetate) (TMP-SH). The compositions were made from solubilization of ENR, and subsequent reaction with TMP-SH. Compositions with 5, 10 and 20 phr of TMP-SH, NR and ENR controls were prepared. It was also prepared a composition with NR and 10 phr of TMP-SH to demonstrate the effect of epoxide group. The crosslinking formation of the films was determined by physical-mechanical properties as equilibrium swelling index, tensile strength and dynamic-mechanical properties. The results showed the efficiency of the cure agent and the influence of TMP-SH content incorporated, in the studied properties, and the ENR composition with 10 phr of curing agent presented the best physical-mechanical performance.
Epoxidized natural rubber; cure; tensile strength; DMA; swelling index
