The trans Polyoctenamer or trans Polyoctylene Rubber produced by metathesis polymerization of cyclooctene offer the compounder in the rubber industry a great many possible uses by virtue of their particular structural charteristics. Partial crystallinity of trans polyoctenamer(TOR) is expected to increase green strength of rubber mixtures when blended. The low viscosity of commercial TOR is expected also to exhibit significant advantages in the processing of the rubber mixtures. TOR showed good vulcanization characteristics when covulcanized with commercial general purpose rubbers. Thus, TOR was found to be suitable for application as blends with commercial rubbers such as natural rubber, butadiene rubber and styrene-butadiene rubber. When vulcanized, the blends showed good elasticity, high modulus and hardness. Excellent abrasion resistance and low heat build-up were abserved. It was concluded that TOR can be applied successfully to improve the processing efficiency in injection and extrusion of rubber compounds and enhance the rubber vulcanizate properties.
