Synthesis and evaluation of poly(isoprene-co-acrylonitrile) as synthetic rubber with enhanced oil resistance

According to a report by the International Rubber Study Group, the world consumption of natural and synthetic rubbers in the year 2021 was reported at 13.77 million metric tons and 15.81 million metric tons, respectively. ACN content in NBR can also be used to tailor other properties such as mechanical properties, glass transition temperature, Tg, and processability of the rubber [3]. Besides oil-sealing purposes, NBR was also exploited to produce nitrile gloves, especially after increased public awareness about latex protein allergy from natural rubber latex gloves. The chemical structure of the rubber was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), while mechanical properties and oil resistance tests were conducted on the vulcanized rubber films. 2.