Tailoring the Thermal Conductivity of Rubber Nanocomposites by Inorganic Systems: Opportunities and Challenges for Their Application in Tires Formulation

The development of effective thermally conductive rubber nanocomposites for heat management represents a tricky point for several modern technologies, ranging from electronic devices to the tire industry. Since rubber materials generally exhibit poor thermal transfer, the addition of high loadings of different carbon-based or inorganic thermally conductive fillers is mandatory to achieve satisfactory heat dissipation performance. However, this dramatically alters the mechanical behavior of the final materials, representing a real limitation to their application. Moreover, upon fillers’ incorporation into the polymer matrix, interfacial thermal resistance arises due to differences between the phonon spectra and scattering at the hybrid interface between the phases. Thus, a suitable filler functionalization is required to avoid discontinuities in the thermal transfer. In this challenging scenario, the present review aims at summarizing the most recent efforts to improve the thermal conductivity of rubber nanocomposites by exploiting, in particular, inorganic and hybrid filler systems, focusing on those that may guarantee a viable transfer of lab-scale formulations to technological applicable solutions. The intrinsic relationship among the filler’s loading, structure, morphology, and interfacial features and the heat transfer in the rubber matrix will be explored in depth, with the ambition of providing some methodological tools for a more profitable design of thermally conductive rubber nanocomposites, especially those for the formulation of tires.     

Enhanced Physical and Mechanical Properties of Nitrile-Butadiene Rubber Composites with N-Cetylpyridinium Bromide-Carbon Black

The physical and mechanical properties of nitrile–butadiene rubber (NBR) composites with N-cetylpyridinium bromide-carbon black (CPB-CB) were investigated. Addition of 5 parts per hundred rubber (phr) of CPB-CB into NBR improved the tensile strength by 124%, vulcanization rate by 41%, shore hardness by 15%, and decreased the volumetric wear by 7% compared to those of the base rubber-CB composite.     

Barium Titanate-reinforced Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Rubber: Synergy Effect of Carbon-based Secondary Filler

Acrylonitrile rubber(NBR) composites filled with barium titanate(BT) were prepared using an internal mixer and a two-roll mill. Also, a secondary filler, namely carbon nanotubes(CNT), was added in order to find a potential synergistic blend ratio of BT and CNT. The cure characteristics, tensile and dielectric properties(dielectric constant and dielectric loss) of the composites were determined. It was found that NBR/BT composites with CNT secondary filler, at a proper BT:CNT ratio, exhibited shorter scorch time(t_(s1)) and cure time(t_(c90)) together with superior tensile properties and reinforcement efficiency, relative to the one with only the primary filler. In addition, the NBR/BT-CNT composite with 80 phr BT and 1-2 phr CNT had dielectric constant of 100-500, dielectric loss of 12-100 and electrical conductivity below 10~(-4) S/m together with high thermal stability. Thus, with a proper BT:CNT mix and filler loading, we can produce mechanically superior rubber composites that are easy to process and low-cost, for flexible dielectric materials application.     

Blending of Natural Rubber/Recycled Ethylene-Propylene-diene Rubber: Promoting the Interfacial Adhesion Between Phases by Natural Rubber Latex

This article deals with blends based on natural rubber (NR) and recycled ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (R-EPDM). Natural rubber latex (NRL) was introduced into the blends to enhance interfacial adhesion between NR and R-EPDM. A new route of compounding was also suggested. The blends were prepared by mixing R-EPDM and other additives in NRL before blending with natural rubber on a two-roll mill. By applying this method, the homogeneity of the blends and cross-linking distribution are significantly improved. The blends exhibited superior state of cure, swelling resistance, mechanical properties and dynamic mechanical properties. The degree of entanglement between NR and R-EPDM also increased after NRL modification.     

气相色谱-质谱联用法测定橡胶制品中多环芳烃（蒽）含量不确定度评定

目的对气相色谱-质谱联用仪法测定橡胶制品中多环芳烃（蒽）含量不确定度进行评定,确定影响不确定度的关键因素。方法依据《ZEK01.4-2008 GS认证过程中PAHs的测试和验证》,使用气相色谱-质谱联用仪法测定橡胶制品中多环芳烃（蒽）含量,并对结果的不确定度进行评定,分析影响测量不确定度的各个因素,对各个分量进行计算和合成。结果扩展不确定度U=5.7 mg/kg,置信概率95%。结论该实验的不确定度主要影响因素是曲线校准。     

Vulcanization kinetics of graphene/styrene butadiene rubber nanocomposites

This paper presents the influence of graphene on the vulcanization kinetics of styrene butadiene rubber （SBR） with dicumyl peroxide. A curemeter and a differential scanning calorimeter were used to investigate the cure kinetics, from which the kinetic parameters and apparent activation energy were obtained. It turns out that with increasing graphene loading, the induction period of the vulcanization process of SBR is remarkably reduced at low graphene loading and then levels off; on the other hand, the optimum cure time shows a monotonous decrease. As a result, the vulcanization rate is suppressed at first and then accelerated, and the corresponding activation energy increases slightly at first and then decreases. Upon adding graphene, the crosslinking density of the nanocomposites increases, because graphene takes part in the vulcanization process.     

A new high frequency dynamic mechanical analysis system: An approach to direct high frequency testing of tire tread rubber

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) systems are measurement devices for obtaining master curves and complex modules of viscoelastic materials, such as rubbers. The conventional DMAs measurement systems in market have several limitations, which restrict their ability for operating at high frequencies. Thus, Williams, Landel and Ferry (WLF) relation is used to produce master curves and predict the material properties at high frequencies. In conventional DMAs, experiments are done in a range of temperatures, and then a master curve is made for a chosen reference temperature by shifting the measurements data to high frequencies. Therefore, the obtained results, which are not based on direct measurements, can be inaccurate. In order to overcome this problem a new simple shear high-frequency DMA (HFDMA) system is designed and built to directly measure the dynamic mechanical properties of viscoelastic material at high frequencies and the strain levels sufficient for tire manufacturers. The new HFDMA can be used to test any viscoelastic materials which have glass transmission temperature (Tg) lower than room temperature (about 23 °C) such as the Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). The SBR is the base material for tire tread. The designing process of this new HFDMA is presented in this paper. The rubber specimen shape is chosen by taking into account the shear elastic wave effect, bending, buckling effect and heat generation in the specimen. The repeatability test is accomplished to ensure that the results obtained from the new HFDMA are repeatable and the repeatability uncertainty is about 0.04%. The new HFDMA is validated by comparing to the direct test results of conventional DMA at 100 Hz. The direct high frequency (5 kHz) complex shear modulus and damping factor are compared with the master curve of the conventional DMA developed by the use of WLF relation for SBR. This comparison revealed that the complex shear modulus and damping factor of the SBR obtained from the HFDMA at 5 kHz and 0.05% strain amplitude are about 7% and 6.5% higher than those obtained from the conventional DMA, respectively.