Abstract

Herein, three polymer compounds were manufactured using three polymer combination methods, ethylene-vinyl acetate/ethylene-propylene-diene-copolymer (EPDM), ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)/polyethylene-A (PE-A; density: 0.870), and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)/polyethylene-B (PE-B; density: 0.885), for making cable sheath for use in the shipping industry. In this study, EVA, EPDM, PE-A, and PE-B were used as matrix polymers, and EVA-grafted maleic anhydride was used as a coupling agent for compounding with various compounds such as a fire retardant, cross-linking agent, filler, and other additives, besides the plasticizer. ΔT, Mooney viscosity, and tensile strength increased in order of EPDM < PE-A < PE-B, the probable reason is due to the different crosslinking effect. The three compounds showed similar results for fire resistance and aging resistance after compounding process, but they showed excellent cold resistance owing to the non-polarity of the polymers and sufficient plasticizer content.

Keywords: cable sheath;EPDM;polyethylene;compounds;plasticizer;cold resistance