Liquid polybutadiene reinforced inverse vulcanised polymers

Abstract

Inverse vulcanisation uses waste sulfur to produce high sulfur content polymers (>50 wt%) with vitrimer characteristics. The ability to be recycled due to the dynamic S–S bonds make sulfur polymers materials of interest, however, their mechanical properties require further improvement. Improving the impact resistance of these materials is of interest because several sulfur polymers have been reported to be highly brittle, limiting their applications in construction. Synthesis of high sulfur content polymers (50 wt% S) containing liquid polybutadiene (LPBD) at loadings of 10–30 wt% was found to increase impact resistance from 3.39 MPa (0 wt% LPBD) to 30 MPa (30 wt% LPBD) while allowing the polymer to remain recyclable at least 3 times.