scholarly journals Influence of Eco-Friendly Processing Aids on Silica-Based Rubber Composites

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7244
Author(s):  
Sung Ho Song

As eco-friendly “green tires” are being developed in the tire industry, conventionally used carbon black is being replaced with silica in rubber compounds. Generally, as a lubricant and dispersing agent, processing aids containing zinc ions have been employed as additives. However, as zinc is a heavy metal, alternative eco-friendly processing aids are required to satisfy worldwide environmental concerns. Furthermore, non-toxic, degradable, and renewable processing aids are required to improve the mechanical properties of the rubber composites. In this study, we evaluated the effects of diverse silica-based processing aids containing hydrocarbon, benzene, and hydroxyl functional groups on the mechanical properties of rubber composites. Among them, rubber composites that used amphiphilic terpene phenol resin (TPR) with hydrophilic silica showed compatibility with the hydrophobic rubber matrix and were revealed to improve the mechanical and fatigue properties. Furthermore, owing to the enhanced dispersion of silica in the rubber matrix, the TPR/styrene butadiene rubber composites exhibited enhanced wet grip and rolling resistance. These results indicated that TPR had multifunctional effects at low levels and has the potential for use as a processing aid in silica-based rubber composites in tire engineering applications.

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (23) ◽  
pp. 3405-3413
Author(s):  
Sung Ho Song

With the development of environmentally friendly “green tires” in the tire industry, silica has been used as a reinforcing filler material in tread compounds. With regard to this rubber compounding process, non-toxic, and renewable processing aids are required. We fabricated such processing aids with multi-alcohol components of hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups (M-A-S) to make the hydrophilic silica compatible with the hydrophobic rubber matrix. The rubber composites with M-A-S showed remarkable enhancements in the mechanical properties, specifically the tensile strength, elongation and fatigue properties due to the improved dispersion of silica in the rubber matrix. They also exhibited outstanding heat build-up, good rebound resilience, and abrasion levels at low loadings. Furthermore, M-A-S were added directly to tread compounds to make a pneumatic tire with enhanced high-speed durability and enhanced dry and wet braking due to the strong interfacial interaction between the silica and the rubber matrix. These results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed potential replacement for metal-ion processing aids for tire engineering.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Nam Chul Kim ◽  
Sung Ho Song

With the development of “green tires” in the tire industry, the conventional carbon black filler that is used in tread formulations is being replaced with silica. Generally, this requires the addition of a processing aid, containing zinc ion, which acts as a lubricant and dispersing agent. However, because zinc is a heavy metal, zinc-free processing aids (ZFAs) are required to satisfy worldwide environmental concerns. We present herein a series of catalytically synthesized ZFAs and evaluate the effects of replacing zinc ion-containing processing aids (ZCAs) on a silica tread formulation. Interestingly, replacing ZCA with ZFA in a two parts per hundred rubber (phr) by weight formulation improved both its tensile strength and elongation by as much as 31% and 20%, respectively. ZFA-rubber formulations also exhibited a twofold enhancement in fatigue properties over those of ZCA-rubber formulations. Furthermore, pneumatic tires were fabricated from our ZFA-rubber formulation and compared against tires containing ZCAs. The ZFA-rubber composite exhibited improved dry and wet braking and rolling resistance due to enhanced dispersion of silica in the rubber matrix. These results show that rubber composites prepared with ZFAs may be promising in tire engineering applications.


2020 ◽  
pp. 096739112097139
Author(s):  
Sung Ho Song

Carbon black has been replaced with silica as a reinforcing filler in tire tread compounds. This change has led to lower rolling resistance and improved hysteretic losses of so-called “green tires.” However, the dispersion of silica in the rubber matrix is an important issue due to the poor compatibility of hydrophilic silica with a hydrophobic rubber matrix. Recently, some rubbers with polar functional groups that can interact with silica have been studied to improve the interaction in silica-filled rubber composites. In this work, we fabricated the silica-filled rubber composites with solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and evaluated their properties in a silica-containing rubber formulation compared to conventional SBR and NR. The silica-embedded polar rubber matrix exhibits remarkable enhancement in the modulus, tensile strength, and abrasion properties due to an efficient dispersion of the silica and improvement of interfacial interactions with the rubber matrix. The polar rubber composite exhibits an enhanced dry and wet braking and improved rolling resistance due to the improved dispersion of the silica in the rubber matrix. These results show that rubber composites prepared with polar rubbers have great potential for tire engineering applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
DongJu Lee ◽  
Sung Ho Song

Epoxidized palm oil (EPO) is environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and a relatively less costly processing aid. In this study, we investigated the suitability of EPO in place of aromatic processing oils in styrene butadiene rubber. The curing properties, mechanical properties, abrasion resistance, and heat buildup properties of rubber composites with EPO were compared with those of the standard with aromatic oils. The rubber composites with EPO showed enhanced mechanical properties including modulus, tensile strength, and elongation at break. This is ascribed to the improved dispersion of fillers in the rubber matrix and interaction between the filler and the polymer. Furthermore, EPO in the rubber matrix showed remarkable abrasion resistance, rebound resilience, and heat buildup at low loadings. EPO in a rubber composite presents feasibility as a renewable raw material that can serve as an alternative to petrochemical oils in various applications.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2413
Author(s):  
Mariapaola Staropoli ◽  
Vincent Rogé ◽  
Enzo Moretto ◽  
Joffrey Didierjean ◽  
Marc Michel ◽  
...  

The improvement of mechanical properties of polymer-based nanocomposites is usually obtained through a strong polymer–silica interaction. Most often, precipitated silica nanoparticles are used as filler. In this work, we study the synergetic effect occurring between dual silica-based fillers in a styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)/polybutadiene (PBD) rubber matrix. Precipitated Highly Dispersed Silica (HDS) nanoparticles (10 nm) have been associated with spherical Stöber silica nanoparticles (250 nm) and anisotropic nano-Sepiolite. By imaging filler at nano scale through Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, we have shown that anisotropic fillers align only in presence of a critical amount of HDS. The dynamic mechanical analysis of rubber compounds confirms that this alignment leads to a stiffer nanocomposite when compared to Sepiolite alone. On the contrary, spherical 250 nm nanoparticles inhibit percolation network and reduce the nanocomposite stiffness.


2016 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingguo Wang ◽  
Jingrui Liu ◽  
Quande Cui ◽  
Xiao Xiao

ABSTRACT How to improve the wet skid resistance of rubber composites for tire tread while decreasing the rolling resistance is very important for both rubber researchers and industry. The irradiation-vulcanized elastomer particles, ultrafine fully-vulcanized powder nitrile butadiene rubber (UFPNBR), having the diameter of about 80 nm, were studied on modifying the dynamic mechanical properties of styrene butadiene rubber/natural rubber (SBR/NR) composites for tire tread. It is notable that the UFPNBR particles can improve the tanδ values of SBR/NR composites in a temperature range from −10 to 20 °C and decrease the tanδ values in the temperature range from 50 to 70 °C simultaneously, which indicates that the UFPNBR particles not only can improve the wet skid resistance but also can reduce the rolling resistance of the SBR/NR composites. On the other hand, the UFPNBR-modified SBR/NR composites also have good dynamic properties for safety operation of tires at high temperature and good tensile strength, tear strength, and fatigue properties in the range of 8 phr UFPNBR loadings.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elkid Cobani ◽  
Irene Tagliaro ◽  
Marco Geppi ◽  
Luca Giannini ◽  
Philippe Leclère ◽  
...  

Sepiolite (Sep)–styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) nanocomposites were prepared by using nano-sized sepiolite (NS-SepS9) fibers, obtained by applying a controlled surface acid treatment, also in the presence of a silane coupling agent (NS-SilSepS9). Sep/SBR nanocomposites were used as a model to study the influence of the modified sepiolite filler on the formation of immobilized rubber at the clay-rubber interface and the role of a self-assembled nanostructure in tuning the mechanical properties. A detailed investigation at the macro and nanoscale of such self-assembled structures was performed in terms of the organization and networking of Sep fibers in the rubber matrix, the nature of both the filler–filler and filler–rubber interactions, and the impact of these features on the reduced dissipative phenomena. An integrated multi-technique approach, based on dynamic measurements, nuclear magnetic resonance analysis, and morphological investigation, assessed that the macroscopic mechanical properties of clay nanocomposites can be remarkably enhanced by self-assembled filler structures, whose formation can be favored by manipulating the chemistry at the hybrid interfaces between the clay particles and the polymers.


2012 ◽  
Vol 430-432 ◽  
pp. 1076-1080
Author(s):  
Mei Chun Li ◽  
Xin Ge ◽  
Jong Hyuk Lim ◽  
Min Su Kim ◽  
Ur Ryong Cho

Starch/Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) biocomposites were prepared by directly blending of starch and SBR on a two-roll miller. Two types of starch: pure starch and modified starch (M-starch) were used as rubber fillers. M-starch were synthesized by grafting of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer onto starch backbone using ceric ammonium nitrate-initiated radical polymerization. Coupling agent styrene-g-(maleic anhydride) (SMA) was used to further improve the interfacial interaction between the filler and rubber matrix. The morphology and mechanical properties of unmodified starch/SBR and M-starch/SBR biocomposites with SMA content of 0, 1, 3, and 5 phr were investigated. SEM observations showed the particle size of M-starch decreased and their dispersion in the SBR matrix significantly improved than unmodified starch. Mechanical properties of M-starch/SBR biocomposites were superior than those of unmodified starch/SBR biocomposites.


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