Most rubber products used in high-pressure and high-temperature gases environment usually suffer from the rapid gas decompression (RGD) failures such as crack, void, bubble, blister, and rupture. Some ingredients of rubber compounding such as zinc oxide (ZnO) as a cure activator can affect on rubber vulcanizates properties and durability. The RGD resistance of nitrile (NBR) rubber vulcanizates using zinc oxide nanoparticles (nano-ZnO) were investigated compared to those of NBR with conventional rubber grade (CRG) ZnO. Results showed that the by applying nano-ZnO in NBR compounding formulations, higher corsslink density and hardness and lower tensile strength were obtained in comparison with the CRG-ZnO ones. However, the RGD resistance was lower in nano-ZnO containing compounds of NBR than CRG-ZnO ones. In addition, all NBR compounding formulations in both systems were passed the RGD test. Application of nano-ZnO particles might be more suitable in practical conditions than CRG-ZnO curing agent system, since higher physico-mechanical properties and good RGD resistance were required, simultaneously.

Keywords