Affiliations 

  • 1 Technology and Engineering Division, Malaysian Rubber Board, 47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
  • 3 Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre, Brickendonbury, Hertford SG13 8NL, United Kingdom
ACS Omega, 2020 May 12;5(18):10266-10275.
PMID: 32426583 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.9b03920

Abstract

The reinforcing silica filler, which can be more than 40% of an elastomer composite, plays a key role to achieve the desired mechanical properties in elastomer vulcanizates. However, the highly hydrophilic nature of silica surface causes silica particle aggregation. It remained a challenge for many tire manufacturers when using silica-filled elastomer compounds. Here, the silica surface energy changes when the surface is modified with coupling or noncoupling silanes; coupling silanes can covalently bond the silica to the elastomers. The surface energy of silica was determined using inverse gas chromatography (IGC) at finite dilution (FD-IGC) and found to be reduced by up to 50% when the silica surface was silanized. The spatial distribution of silica aggregates within the tire matrix is determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and a direct correlation between aggregate size (silica microdispersion) and work of cohesion from IGC is reported, highlighting surface energy and work of cohesion being excellent indicators of the degree of dispersion of silica aggregates.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.