Mechanical Aging Test and Sealing Performance of Thermoplastic Vulcanizate as Sealing Gasket in Automotive Fuel Cell Applications.

Ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber is one of the rapidly developing synthetic rubbers for use as a gasket material in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell applications. Despite its excellent elastic and sealing properties, EPDM faces challenges such as molding processability and recycling ability. To overcome these challenges, thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV), which comprises vulcanized EPDM in polypropylene matrix, was investigated as a gasket material for PEM fuel cell applications.