ZNIBU, a slow accelerator, was evaluated in polybutadiene compositions. This accelerator was synthesized intending to replace or reduce the use of some very used commercial accelerators in rubber compositions which, due to their nitrosamine-forming potential, can be harmful to health. In order to correct for the slow accelerating character ZNIBU was used in combination with the commercial accelerator CBS (N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazole-2-sulfenamide). It was observed that small amounts of the accelerators are not effective in the vulcanization accelerating process of gum type compositions. Nevertheless, the presence of carbon black exerts a positive effect on the reaction rate. The investigated mechanical properties show that ZNIBU improves stress strength of the pure gum (35%), when compared with a similar composition vulcanized with CBS and, in the presence of carbon black, the increase is even more expressive (175%). As for the tear strength, the ZNIBU vulcanization provided the lowest value for the pure gum composition while the carbon black-filled composition presented the highest value for this property.
Polybutadiene; vulcanization; accelerators; properties
