Polybutadiene is known to be a high performing material polymerized by lithium initiator or based on Ni, Co, Ti or Nd organometallic complexes.
Technical Notebook: Introduction to the processability of neodymium-based polybutadiene
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For what is concerning the widely used Nd-BR, despite superior mechanical and hysteretic properties, processing may become challenging, since commercially available high-cis-BR are characterized by very complex structures, and the nonlinear viscoelastic response is strongly affected by changes in the relaxation behavior of the polymer matrix.
This conflict may be overcome by targeting a controlled molecular architecture during polymerization. Taking into account that raw elastomers, when processed, must be analyzed by the theory of nonlinear viscoelasticity, where transient flow and a large degree of stretching are actually prevalent, various high-cis polybutadienes are investigated and their compound processability is discussed using a reference carbon black formulation.
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