In nuclear power plants there is a vast number of polymeric materials used with important functional requirements related to the safety during normal operation and accidental events. A common polymer utilised in reactor containments is ethylene-propylene diene (EPDM) rubber. There is a need to understand how these polymers are affected over a longer operation e.g. 10 years. Knowledge of possible degradation mechanisms and predictability is an important foundation and basis for proper management of the aging issue. The so-called NMR-MOUSE (NMR mobile universal surface explorer) is a mobile instrument initially designed for analysis of polymer materials. It is portable and can be carried to the object of interest. The objects can be investigated entirely non-destructively up to several millimetres in depth by placing the NMR-MOUSE in the spot to be measured. NMR measurements with the NMR-MOUSE can help to investigate the heterogeneity of rubber induced by thermal oxidative aging by depth-selective measurements. The thermal degradation of EPDM rubber material was investigated at temperatures in the range 170-120�C. We intend to show the applicability of the NMR-MOUSE for investigations of the heterogeneity in depth, complemented with infrared microscopy and indenter modulus profiling of sample cross-sections. IR spectroscopy of the sample cross-section is anticipated to result in degradation-related spectral changes primarily in the carbonyl region. These chemical oxidation profiles will be correlated with mechanical indenter modulus and NMR T2 relaxation data up to 4 mm in depth.

Thermo-oxidative profiling of EPDM seals used in nuclear power plants

248th National Meeting (2014)

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