Screening of EPDM Cure States Using Depth‐Sensing Indentation

Abstract The applicability of depth‐sensing indentation as a characterization tool for high throughput experimentation (HTE) in the field of rubber curing was investigated. Depth‐sensing indentation is a suitable candidate for HTE as small amounts of material per sample suffice and large numbers of samples can be automatically measured sequentially. The applicability of this technique to characterize rubber crosslinking was studied using a set of peroxide cured EPDM vulcanizates. Depth‐sensing indentation results were correlated with state of cure, Shore A hardness and macroscopic mechanical properties such as modulus and compression set. magnified image