Reinforcement of natural rubber and epoxidized natural rubbers with fillers

Abstract

The reinforcement of natural rubber (NR) and epoxidized natural rubbers (ENRs) with silica or carbon black (CB) by using a semi-efficient sulfur accelerated vulcanization system has been carried out. It was found that silica caused a longer in cure time compared to CB and due to the dissimilarity of their surface chemistry, it was also found that silica and CB caused the difference in reinforcement effect to those rubbers. Silica caused in filled-vulcanizates of those rubbers with a higher modulus and lower tensile strength compared to their unfilled ones. On the other hand, CB caused enhancements in both modulus and tensile to those rubbers. The investigation on reinforcing efficiencies of those fillers on the rubbers found that the higher reinforcing efficiency of CB was attributed to its better degree of filler dispersion when compared to silica.