Study on the self‐crosslinking behavior based on polychloroprene rubber and epoxidized natural rubber

This work has studied the impact of curing temperature and rubber compositions on the self‐crosslinking behavior of the polychloroprene rubber (CR) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) blend. Variation of the temperature and blending ratios, rheological results have shown a better crosslinking result at 160°C with the optimum CR ratio at 75%. Then, Arrhenius equation was applied to verify the crosslinking kinetic and first‐order kinetics has been verified. The chemical reaction routes proposed by differential scanning calorimetry have also been analyzed. Moreover, dynamic mechanical analysis and field emission scanning electron micrographs combined with energy‐dispersive X‐ray analysis were done to evaluate the phase compatibility. Based on the experimental results, a proposal “cross‐promotion” reaction is drawn to conclude the self‐crosslinking of CR and ENR.