ABSTRACT
Swelling, tensile and fatigue tests have been made on a filled polychloroprene for various ageing durations in air, at 100°C. In these conditions, the elastomer undergoes thermo-oxidative chemical degradations, leading to large changes of the mechanical properties. In this paper, we show that the predominant degradation consequence over ageing is crosslinking. The sensitivity of ultimate strain and fatigue lifetime upon ageing is investigated. Predictions of these mechanical properties based on the changes of the macromolecular network are proposed.
