III To my mother and father IV ABSTRACT Biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) are currently viewed by the transportation sector as the most viable alternative fuels to replace petroleum-based fuels. The use of biodiesel has, however, been limited by the deteriorative effect of biodiesel on rubber parts in automobile fuel systems. This work therefore aimed at investigating the degradati...

Extending the mechanical lifetime of NBR (i.e., poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene)), a large-volume synthetic rubber, requires better understanding its structure–property relationships. We demonstrate that industrial-grade and uncross-linked can be mechanically rejuvenated physically aged due to an inhomogeneous distribution monomers along polymer chains. As opposed nonpolar SBR counterpart poly(...

Resistance to permeation of noxious chemical substances should be accompanied by resistance to mechanical factors because the glove material may be torn, cut or punctured in the workplace. This study reports on glove materials, protecting against mineral oils and mechanical hazards, made of carboxylated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (XNBR) latex. The obtained materials were characterized by a ...

−− An industrial emulsion copolymerization of acrylonitrile and butadiene carried out in a batch (or semibatch) reactor for the production of nitrile rubber (NBR) is investigated. The effect of variable amounts of deactivating impurities on the predictions of a global polymerization model is analyzed; and the advantages of using the model predictions in combination with on-line calorimetric mea...