Morphological investigations on silica and carbon-black filled acrylonitrile butadiene rubber for sealings used in high-pressure H2 applications

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Clara Clute
  • Winoj Balasooriya
  • Natalia Cano Murillo
  • Géraldine Theiler
  • Andreas Kaiser
  • Michael Fasching
  • Thomas Schwarz
  • Andreas Hausberger

External Organisational units

  • Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH
  • Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM)
  • ARLANXEO Deutschland GmbH
  • SKF Sealing Solutions Austria GmbH

Abstract

To understand the effects of additives on the properties of rubber grades suitable for sealing applications in high-pressure H2 gas infrastructure, five acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) vulcanizates with different fillers and curing agents are investigated. Structure-property relationships of these grades are correlated with the additives and properties required for high-pressure gas atmospheres are evaluated. Further, the influence of the exposure to high-pressure hydrogen, i.e., hydrogen uptake and morphological changes after exposure, is evaluated. With the addition of a silica filler and a coupling agent for improved filler-matrix interfaces, similar overall properties, e.g. crosslink density, tensile strength, and storage modulus are obtained, compared to a carbon black (CB) filled grade. Density reduction after hydrogen exposure is significantly higher for CB-filled NBR, indicating higher hydrogen uptake in CB-filled rubber compared to silica filled NBR grades, or slower gas desorption. However, CB-filled specimens show to be less prone to filler migration than the silica-filled samples.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)540-552
Number of pages13
JournalInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Volume67.2024
Issue number20 May
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 23 Apr 2024