HAF/SILICA/NANOCLAY “TERNARY” MASTERBATCH AND HAF/SILICA BINARY MASTERBATCH FROM FRESH NATURAL RUBBER LATEX

Abstract

ABSTRACT A process for production of carbon black/silica/nanoclay ternary filler masterbatch from fresh natural rubber (NR) latex was standardized. The fillers, nanoclay, carbon black, and silica were incorporated in fresh NR latex by a modified coagulation process. The latex, mixed with filler dispersions, coagulated immediately on addition of acids. The coagulum containing fillers was dried at 70 °C in an air oven to get the latex filler masterbatch, which was further processed in the conventional way. The masterbatch compounds containing only silica/carbon black showed a higher level of vulcanization as compared with the corresponding dry mixes. The mechanical properties, such as tensile strength, modulus, tear strength, abrasion resistance, and hardness, increased with the proportion of nanoclay in the mixes up to 5 phr, and with a greater amount, the change was only marginal. Lower tan delta values were observed for all of the masterbatches containing nanoclay in the ranges of 3 to 10 phr compared with the control dry mix containing 25/25 carbon black/silica. The improvement in mechanical properties and dynamic properties shown by the masterbatches over the conventional mill-mixed compounds was attributed to factors related to filler dispersion, as evidenced from the data from dispersion analyzer images, X-ray diffractograms, and a higher level of vulcanization.