The thermomechanical behavior of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) foams produced with the salt leaching method has been investigated and compared with the behavior of EPDM foams obtained from conventional blowing agents. Moreover, the salt‐leaching process has been optimized to minimize salt residues and the influence of different parameters (such as average particle size and particle size distribution) has been investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and density measurements highlighted that salt‐leaching leads to the formation of open‐cell porosity with cell dimensions of around 60 to 80 μm, while foams obtained with the two traditional foaming agents lead to closed‐cell porosity. Compression set values indicate that the behavior of the foams produced with salt leaching are more similar to the unfoamed rubber, characterized by higher elasticity and low residual deformation. Two theoretical models were successfully applied to the compression curves (Mooney‐Rivlin and Exponential‐Logarithmic) and they highlighted the effect of foaming on the properties of EPDM rubber and in particular the higher chain extensibility obtained through the salt leaching foaming method.

中文翻译：

---

盐浸法用于生产乙烯丙烯二烯单体橡胶泡沫的评价

已经研究了用盐浸法生产的乙烯丙烯二烯单体（EPDM）泡沫的热力学行为，并将其与由常规发泡剂获得的EPDM泡沫的行为进行了比较。此外，优化了盐浸工艺以最大程度地减少盐残留，并研究了不同参数（例如平均粒径和粒径分布）的影响。扫描电子显微镜和密度测量结果表明，盐浸导致形成开孔孔隙度约为60至80μm的孔，而用两种传统发泡剂获得的泡沫则导致闭孔孔隙度。压缩永久变形值表明，盐浸法生产的泡沫的行为与未发泡橡胶更相似，具有较高的弹性和较低的残余变形。成功地将两种理论模型应用于压缩曲线（Mooney-Rivlin和Exponential-Logarithmic），它们强调了发泡对EPDM橡胶性能的影响，尤其是通过盐浸发泡方法获得的更高的链延伸性。