Prediction of the lifetime of nitrile-butadiene rubber by FT-IR.

A quantitative measurement method with FT-IR was proposed for a thermal degradation analysis of nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR). An NBR film was prepared as a model sample on a barium fluoride (BaF2) crystal plate, which was subjected to a heat treatment. The absorbances of various functional groups were measured directly by FT-IR after thermal degradation at high temperatures. By measuring the absorbances, it was possible to readily determine quantitatively each of the functional groups after the degradation of NBR. By assuming that the NBR lifetime was the point at which the absorbance of a carbon-carbon double bond reaches 45% of that prior to thermal treatment, a method for predicting the lifetime of NBR heated below 150 degrees C was proposed, by using an Arrhenius plot of the heating time versus heating temperature.