Fabrication of High Performance Magnetic Rubber from NBR and Fe3O4via in Situ Compatibilization with Zinc Dimethacrylate

Fe 3 O 4 -based magnetic rubbers are desirable because they take advantage of high elasticity, large elongations, and high magnetic saturation intensity of each component. However, direct compounding of rubbers and Fe 3 O 4 usually resulted in low mechanical properties which made the magnetic rubbers unable to satisfy practical applications. In this paper, we prepared nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR)/Fe 3 O 4 -based magnetic rubbers with good mechanical properties by means of in situ compatibilization using zinc dimethacrylate (ZDMA). Our strategy was based on the polymerization of ZDMA during a peroxide-induced vulcanization, in which the polymerized ZDMA (PZDMA) brought massive Zn 2+ ion pairs into NBR. Zn 2+ ion pairs not only increased the polarity of NBR but also strongly interacted with Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles. Because of the graft -PZDMA, the Zn 2+ ion pairs finally strengthened interactions between Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles and NBR molecules. We hope this report laid an applied foundation for design of high performance magnetic rubbers to satisfy the various potential applications.