Effects of Chemical Structure of Phenolic Resin on Damping Properties of Acrylate Rubber-Based Blends.

Two types of acrylate rubber (AR)-based damping blends were prepared by using two types of phenolic resins (PF), a resole resin (RR) and a novolac resin (NR), as organic fillers. The structure and damping properties of the AR/RR and AR/NR blends obtained by hot-pressing were characterized and compared by Fourier transform infrared spectrum, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical analysis. The results showed that the chemical structures of PF and the hot-pressing process had a significant effect on the damping properties of the AR-based composites. The loss peak of AR/RR shifted to a lower temperature accompanied with a gradually reduced peak intensity with the increase of RR content. In contrast, hot-pressed AR/NR showed great improvement in damping properties, which can broaden the effective damping temperature region and an increase in the temperature of the loss peak. It was thus concluded that NR with linear structure and abundant phenolic hydroxyl groups, which can create effective hydrogen bonds with an AR matrix, even after hot-pressing, makes it a promising NR to choose as an organic additive in ARs to prepare advanced damping blends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]