The purpose of this work was to verify the ability to cross-link the chloroprene rubber (CR) by using copper oxides: copper(I) oxide or copper(II) oxide. The use of copper oxides arises from the need to limit the application of ZnO as a cross-linking agent of CR. The obtained results indicate that CR compositions cross-linked with copper oxides are characterized by good mechanical properties and a high cross-linking degree. The results show that the type and the amount of copper oxides influence the cross-linking of the CR and the properties of the vulcanizates. For compositions containing copper(II) oxide, the properties are linearly dependent on the amount of CuO. Such a relationship is difficult to notice in the case of the use of copper(I) oxide-when analyzing individual parameters, the best results are obtained for different samples. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) studies confirmed the possibility of cross-linking of chloroprene rubber with copper oxides. This is evidenced by the characteristic changes in the intensity of the bands. Structural changes in the material during heating were determined by the thermal analysis-differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Regardless of the type and amount of copper oxide, all compositions exhibit similar characteristics, and there are no significant changes in the glass transition temperature of the material.
Keywords: DSC; IR; TGA; chloroprene rubber; copper(I) oxide; copper(II) oxide; cross-linking; mechanical properties.