Improved tire tread compounds using functionalized styrene butadiene rubber‐silica filler/hybrid filler systems

Abstract Automotive industry is currently looking for an eco‐friendly tire with low rolling resistance coefficient (RRc), better traction, wear resistance, and fatigue properties. Presently, solution styrene‐butadiene rubber (SSBR)‐silica systems are pursued for balancing between traction and RRc. However, the interaction between SSBR and silica is not enough to give satisfactory results. Functionalized‐SSBR (FSSBR) leads to better rubber‐silica interaction due to introduction of polar groups in the polymer chain. The present study investigates the influence of FSSBR, highly dispersible (HD) silica, and its hybrid filler systems with organically modified nanoclay (ONC) and exfoliated graphene nanoplatelet (xGnP). Both M H , and Δtorque were higher for the FSSBR‐HD silica compound (S1) with the lowest change in storage modulus (∆G') value, due to higher polymer‐filler interaction. S1 exhibited 16% ice traction and 12% wet traction improvement with 29% lower rolling resistance over SSBR‐silica compound. S1 showed the best wet traction rating and wear resistance. Replacing small portion of silica by ONC and xGnP improved the properties further. At 5 phr of nanofiller, TEM images revealed well‐dispersed nanofillers in the FSSBR matrix. The xGnP compound showed the least crack growth. For both the cases, abradability decreased with higher nanofiller amount, due to better reinforcement of the rubber.