Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of Polymer Science, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
This study reports synthesis and characterization details of functional thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) with enhanced physical properties. TPE phase was an elastomer blend consisting of styrene-b-ethylene-butylene-b-styrene (SEBS) and maleic anhydride grafted-SEBS (SEBS-g-MAh) copolymers, and a paraffinic oil (20/60/20 wt%). TPE blend was functionalized with two different amine compounds, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (TA) as a cyclic amine and 1,12-diaminododecane (DA) as an aliphatic diamine via reactive melt compounding in an internal mixer at 165°C without catalyst. Structural, viscoelastic, and mechanical properties of functional TPEs were characterized by several analytical methods such as FTIR, DMA, rheological measurements, and tensile test. Characterization studies indicated that cyclic amine reacted with maleic anhydride groups of TPE and formed maleimide structure and resulted in strong hydrogen interactions between amine functionalized TPE chains, while aliphatic diamine formed amide bonds and yielded crosslinked structure. It was shown that chemical reactions between SEBS-g-MAh and amine compounds resulted in significant enhancement in the physical properties of TPE confirmed with increase in elasticity, viscosity, creep resistance, and relaxation time of samples. This structural enhancement strategy through the formation of chemical interactions between reactive groups is an easy and versatile method that can be used to manufacture transparent TPE compounds and parts employing commercial processing operations in elastomer industry.