Rheological Characterization and Mathematical Modeling of a SEBS Blend for Industrial Applications where Nowadays Liquid Silicone Rubber is Used

SEBS (styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene) is a hydrogenated SBS used as a compatibilizer of other thermoplastic or as a blend to improve the properties (mainly impact). There is very little information about SEBSs research, independent of other materials. This study focuses on a blend from the providers SEBS extreme hardness (50% Shore-A 5 and 50% Shore-A 90) in order to analyze the miscibility of mixed materials from the storage of 2 references only. It has been used the thermoplastic elastomer Megol TA® SEBS, whose characteristics make it special due to the wide range of hardness and transparency, and can be obtained blend for industrial applications where nowadays liquid silicone rubber is used. Next step is rheological characterization of the blend, analyzing the viscosity for subsequent mathematical modeling. Finally, in order to reproduce the rheological behavior of materials during the injection process, Autodesk Moldflow Inside 2010 CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) tool has been used with Cross-WLF model parameters, and compared with tests injected.