Transfer of Labeled Hydrogen between Elastomers and Carbon Black
Abstract Radioactive hydrogen exchange was studied between tritium labeled carbon blacks and elastomers as well as between tritium labeled elastomers and carbon blacks, after solvent mixing and after milling. A substantial exchange was observed upon solvent mixing of an unsaturated elastomer (SBR) and a reinforcing black (HAF), with commercial blacks as well as in carbon black samples from which surface oxide groups were removed by calcination. Milling did not significantly increase the hydrogen exchange. Nonreinforcing blacks did not show any exchange. Saturated elastomers, such as butyl rubber, which bond predominantly to the carbon black particles by means of surface oxide complexes, did not show any significant hydrogen exchange, not even with channel blacks. The phenomena could be adequately explained by assuming as the material basis of reinforcement of unsaturated elastomers a process of chemisorption through abstraction of reactive hydrogen from the elastomer to a reactive site on the carbon black surface, followed by a chemical reaction of the resulting elastomer free radical chain with another reactive carbon black site. Thus, active sites on the carbon black surface and reacting hydrogen in the unsaturated elastomer are the determining factors in reinforcement.