Investigating the Effect of Curing Activators on the Cure Kinetics of Acrylonitrile–Butadiene Rubber Filled with Graphene Oxide and Reduced Graphene Oxides Nanocomposites

For the first time, acrylonitrile–butadiene rubber (NBR)–graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene (rGO) composites were prepared without cure activators: zinc oxide/stearic acid (ZnO/SA) studied. The vulcanization characteristics of compounds systematically studied at 160–190°C, with aid rheometer differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. NBR revealed rapid curing time (t90) greater rate index compared NBR–GO/rGO for measurement. This results in correspondence activation energies Ea (kJ/mol) calculated by Ozawa Kissinger models kinetics. NBR–rGO obtained t90 than NBR–GO, perhaps due to lower oxygenated groups: epoxide (–C–O–C–), carboxyl (–O–C=O), hydroxyl (–OH) present. Although, delayed curing, they significantly recorded high tensile properties reinforcing factors NBR. order increasing mechanical properties: < NBR–GO followed same crosslinking density. In terms strength, NBR–GO-1 62.5% 18.2% increment NBR–rGO-1, respectively. findings from this study indicate that absence ZnO/SA may slow down rubber–GO/rGO networks those containing activators ZnO/SA. However, optimization desired functional groups on derivative sheets (GDS) including other proposed enhance speed rubber–GDS based systems, compromising their integrity advanced applications.