Promoting the dispersibility of silica and interfacial strength of rubber/silica composites prepared by latex compounding
Ying Sun, Zhimin Cheng, Ling Zhang, Haibo Jiang, Chunzhong Li
Abstract
Abstract The dispersibility of precipitated silica and its interfacial interaction with rubber matrix can affect the performances of tires which is a difficult problem to be solved. A well‐dispersed silica dispersion was obtained through ball milling and modification process followed by heat treatment to enhance the properties of NR composites prepared by latex compounding. Benefiting from the modifier Si‐747, the well‐dispersed silica/NR composite (Silica‐MSH‐C) shows excellent tensile strength of 30.8 ± 0.5 MPa, which is 17.6 ± 3.8% higher than latex compounding pure silica/NR composite (Silica‐C) and 21.7 ± 4.3% higher than traditional mechanical blending pure silica/NR composite (T‐Silica‐C). The tan delta values indicate that Silica‐MSH‐C has better dynamic properties and also has stronger interface strength according to swelling tests, heat capacity curves and Mooney‐Rivlin equation. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation further shows the binding energy between NR and Si‐747 modified SiO 2 is 58.88 Kcal/mol larger than the value of NR and pure silica.