Radiochemical ageing of ethylene-propylene-diene elastomers. 4. Evaluation of some anti-oxidants

The preceding papers of this series were devoted to the identification and quantification of the main chemical changes resulting from the radiochemical ageing of EPDM (77.9% ethylene, 21.4% propylene, 0.7% diene) and EPR (76.6% ethylene, 23.4% propylene) films irradiated under oxygen atmosphere using 60Co γ-rays. It was shown that two processes are involved in the EPDM radio-oxidation. The random γ-radiolysis of the polymer provides a constant source of macro-alkyl radicals that are likely to initiate a selective oxidation of the polymer through free-radicals reactions involving the abstraction of labile hydrogen atoms. In the present paper, infrared spectroscopy has been used to study the γ-degradation of EPDM cross-linked with dicumyl peroxide and/or stabilised with two types of anti-oxidants (hindered phenol or amine-type). The results show that the anti-oxidants are not efficient in preventing oxidation. To understand the lack of efficiency of the stabilisers, the impacts of the various formulations on the rate of degradation of EPDM against chain oxidation involved in thermal and UV ageing were also studied.