Effect of Glut Palmitate (GP) Salt on the Properties of Sepiolite Filled Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) Composites

This paper presents the effect of glut palmitate (GP) as a coupling agent on the tensile properties and SEM morphology in sepiolite filled ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber composites. The amount of GP was fixed at 9 phr and compared with the composites without GP. All composites were prepared at various loadings (0,10,20,30) phr by a laboratory scale two-roll mill and were compression moulded. GP gave improvement on the tensile strength and elongation at break while resulted in lower modulus (M100). Scanning electron microscopy images also proved that the EPDM composites that contain exhibited greatest matrix tearing line and surface roughness which correlated to higher tensile properties.