Failure Prediction of Polychloroprene in Contact with Various Solvents

To investigate the swelling and mechanical behaviours of protective materials during sorption and desorption with various solvents would be helpful to predict the failure of these materials. However, elastomers with high chemical resistance are usually used as protective materials and in order to reuse these materials after decontamination, studies are imperative to investigate the failure prediction of protective materials. In this article, the effects of various organic solvents on the swelling and elastic properties of polychloroprene (CR) materials as protective substances were systematically studied. Different aromatic (toluene, anisole, and o-dichlorobenzene) and aliphatic (methyl ethyl ketone and ethyl acetate) solvents with various chemical structures, molar volumes and Ra values (the level of polymer-solvent interaction calculated from the Hansen solubility parameters theory) were considered. The swelling behaviour and the tensile properties of the CR immersed in each solvent for different periods are characterized. The chemical structure and the molar volume of solvents have been found to give better correlations than Ra values on the swelling rates and maximum equilibrium swelling of CR when Ra values are close together. It is also shown that the swelling of CR decreases after the leachable additives are completely removed. The elastic property changes are indication of partial degradation of CR after swelling by solvents in the following order: toluene > anisole > methyl ethyl ketone > ethyl acetate. It has also been found that tensile property changes of CR after contact with solvents at low deformation are more prominent than changes at large deformation. In addition, the presence of leachable additives in CR shows reduction in the tensile properties of CR during partial swelling with various solvents.