Study on the Structures and Surface Forces of Different Carbon Blacks by Atomic Force Microscopy

Abstract

Carbon blacks are used universally as fillers in polymer matrix for mechanical, electronical and thermal properties improvement. Plenty of studies show that the structure and surface properties affect the function of carbon blacks in polymer matrix intensively. However, the reinforcing mechanism is still controversial. In this study, we studied the structure of three carbon blacks by Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) absorption and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and analyzed the absorption/desorption forces of the three carbon blacks surface by force-distance curves. The results show that the carbon black with relatively high structure possesses more branches and bigger aggregation morphologies and shows the highest surface absorption/desorption forces, which may increase the reaction between carbon black and polymer matrix.