Hydrogen possesses many characteristics to be an ideal candidate as a more sustainable energy carrier, especially for the transport sector. For a proper optimization of this abundant resource, hydrogen needs to be compressed, and stored in high-pressure conditions, which demands improvement in technology and the development of appropriate materials. In this context, elastomeric sealing components play a critical role and they need to withstand harsh working conditions, for example, high-pressure, wide temperature range, cyclic exposure conditions, etc. In this work, eight different grades designed for this application were analyzed in terms of fatigue behavior and long-term performance. This was verified through fatigue crack growth experiments, the energy dissipation, and temperature increase during crack propagation were analyzed and correlated with micro-structural differences of materials. Furthermore, the materials were investigated at large and small deformations through uniaxial tensile tests and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), respectively. It was found that only with the addition of a coupling agent can silica-filled NBR have properties similar to carbon black (CB) filled NBR, despite a reduction in both fatigue strength and energy dissipation. Coupling agents also involved an increase in bound rubber. Regarding CB-filled compounds, with peroxide crosslinking a reduction in fatigue strength was found, while no effect on the quantity of bound rubber was observed. Increased CB content in NBR grades led to decreased fatigue resistance and higher energy dissipation; higher bound rubber content was found as well. Also for EPDM grades, increased CB content resulted in reduced fatigue resistance. Despite an increase in energy dissipation, the content of bounded rubber was the same even with higher CB content.

中文翻译：

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针对高压氢气环境开发的弹性体的疲劳研究


氢具有许多特性，是作为更可持续的能源载体的理想候选者，特别是对于运输部门。为了适当优化这种丰富的资源，需要压缩氢气并在高压条件下储存，这需要改进技术和开发适当的材料。在这种情况下，弹性体密封组件起着至关重要的作用，它们需要承受恶劣的工作条件，例如高压、宽温度范围、循环暴露条件等。在这项工作中，分析了为此应用设计的八种不同等级在疲劳行为和长期表现方面。通过疲劳裂纹扩展实验验证了这一点，分析了裂纹扩展过程中的能量耗散和温度升高，并将其与材料的微观结构差异相关联。此外，还分别通过单轴拉伸试验和动态力学分析（DMA）对材料的大变形和小变形进行了研究。研究发现，只有添加偶联剂，二氧化硅填充的 NBR 才能具有与炭黑 (CB) 填充的 NBR 相似的性能，尽管疲劳强度和能量耗散均有所降低。偶联剂还导致结合橡胶的增加。对于含炭黑填充的化合物，发现过氧化物交联会导致疲劳强度降低，但未观察到对结合橡胶数量的影响。 NBR 牌号中CB 含量的增加导致抗疲劳性下降和能量耗散增加；还发现了较高的结合橡胶含量。同样对于 EPDM 牌号来说，CB 含量增加会导致抗疲劳性降低。 尽管能量耗散增加，但即使CB含量较高，粘合橡胶的含量也相同。