Effect of mineral fillers in improving mechanical properties of FKM vulcanizates

Abstract

Arun Byravan from 3M India, and Anupama Bangaragiri from NITK examine the effect of mineral fillers in improving mechanical properties of FKM vulcanizates. The selection of the formulations is done on the basis of a oil seal application and loading of the mineral fillers is varied to maintain a hardness of around 75 durometer A. Compounds have been press cured at 180 C for 10 minutes and post cured at 230 C for 24 hours to eliminate all the volatiles present in the matrix. The aging study of the compounds reveals that the property loss is within the expected range. This study helps in predicting the behavior of filled vulcanizates at these aging conditions and how the crosslinks of filled compound resist higher temperatures. Tensile loss of highly loaded compounds after aging has been found to be low as compared to the reference compound.