Surface modification of vulcanized rubber by radiation grafting, 2; Improvement in performance of wiper rubber

Mizote, Norihito*; Katakai, Akio; Tamada, Masao

Surface of natural rubber was modified by radiation-induced grafting of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) to improve the properties of surface hardness, dry friction, wiping performance, and wear duration. The composition ration of HEMA to rubber was controlled from 0.29 to 0.93 by changing HEMA concentration and dose in graft polymerization. When this composition ration was higher than 0.7, the surface hardness was higher than 64 and the coefficient of dry friction lower than 0.65. Those values became better than those of commercially available chlorinated-rubber in terms of wear and friction against glass. The resulting wear resistance was 10 times higher than chlorinated rubber. However, the surface hardness in wet state was 62.5 since grafted-HEMA gave the hydrophilicity to the rubber. As a result, the grafted-HEMA rubber realized 95% and higher wiping performance of water on glass.