Knowledge Gap in Characterization of Reinforcing Fillers, Structure-Processability Relation of Agglomerates

Abstract

The ultimate objective of mixing rubber and reinforcing filler is the achievement of a desired degree of the filler dispersion. Therefore, an ease of breakdown of the agglomerates into aggregates represents one of the most important aspects of processability. The manner of the breakdown must be related to the structure of agglomerates, in addition to other factors such as mechanical and adsorptive interaction with rubber. However, hardly any investigation has been conducted on the morphology of the agglomerates. This paper proposes a possible morphological model for the reinforcing carbon black over the structure range of 10 nm-100 mm. The purpose of this presentation is to call attention to the need for research on the subject.