Deterioration of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber in rapeseed biodiesel

The deterioration of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) exposed to rapeseed biodiesel at 90 °C was studied. The oxidation of biodiesel and NBR during ageing was monitored by 1H NMR and infrared spectroscopy, HPLC and titration methods. The oxidation of biodiesel was impeded in the presence of NBR, but promoted in biodiesel-exposed rubber. This was explained as being due to the migration of stabilizer from the rubber to biodiesel, the diffusion of dissolved oxygen from biodiesel into NBR and the absorption of oxidation precursors of biodiesel by the rubber. The resemblance between the anomalous sorption kinetics of biodiesel in NBR and the equilibrium benzene uptake by the aged rubbers revealed that biodiesel caused a network defect in NBR, resulting in a gradual increase in the equilibrium swelling. The cleavage of crosslinks was implausible since the Young's modulus of the rubber at low strains, disregarding an initial decrease, increased with increasing exposure time. The appearance of 'naked' carbon black particles in the scanning electron micrographs of the aged rubbers and a drastic decrease in the strain-at-break of NBR after exposure to biodiesel suggests that internal cavitation was caused by the attack of biodiesel on the acrylonitrile units of NBR.