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Segregation behavior of a tackifier in styrene-butadiene rubber under a temperature gradient

Polymer Journal volume 57, pages 1025–1032 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Structure development under a temperature gradient was studied using a miscible blend of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and a tackifier, an oligomeric copolymer comprising mainly styrene and α-methyl styrene (AMS). AMS was found to be miscible with SBR at an AMS content of up to 30 parts per hundred rubber (phr) (23 wt.%) at temperatures below 120 °C. A blend sheet with a thickness of 1 mm was placed in a compression-molding machine, where the top and bottom plates were maintained at different temperatures, such as 120 °C/80 °C and 100 °C/60 °C. After 30 min, the AMS contents on both surfaces were characterized. The AMS content on the low temperature side was high, and vice versa, with no phase separation. Furthermore, the phase diagram of the SBR/AMS blends as a function of the blend composition and temperature was examined. The system was found to show lower critical solution temperature behavior, suggesting that the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter increases with temperature. Therefore, at low temperature, blends containing large amounts of AMB must have a low free energy, which may result in the different compositions of the surfaces after exposure to a temperature gradient.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Laura Murray, PhD, from Edanz (https://jp.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Advanced Science and Technology, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi, Ishikawa, 923-1292, Japan

    Quoc-Viet Do & Masayuki Yamaguchi

  2. Material Research & Development HQ, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., 1-1-2 Tsutsui, Chuo, Kobe, Hyogo, 651-0071, Japan

    Toshio Tada

  3. School of Material Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, 10000, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Vu Anh Doan

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  1. Quoc-Viet Do
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  2. Masayuki Yamaguchi
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  3. Toshio Tada
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  4. Vu Anh Doan
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Correspondence to Quoc-Viet Do, Masayuki Yamaguchi or Vu Anh Doan.

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Do, QV., Yamaguchi, M., Tada, T. et al. Segregation behavior of a tackifier in styrene-butadiene rubber under a temperature gradient. Polym J 57, 1025–1032 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-025-01058-0

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