Effect of Silane‐to‐Silica Ratio on Dissipative Properties of SSBR Compound Reinforced by Dual Fillers of Silica and Carbon Black: Experimental Investigation and Mathematical Modeling

This study aimed to investigate the effect of the silane‐to‐silica ratio on the dissipative properties of carbon black (CB)/silica‐reinforced SSBR compounds under dynamic loads used as the tread of tires. Six compounds were prepared with a constant total filler volume fraction but different silane‐to‐silica and CB/silica ratios. The research was carried out in two steps. First, the viscoelastic properties of the cured compounds were studied using the rubber process analyzer (RPA) and the dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). Meanwhile, the data obtained from the tensile and volumetric change tests were fitted into a nonlinear hyper‐viscoelastic model, and the material parameters were determined. In the second step, finite element analyses were performed using these parameters for two samples under tensile and shear loads. The variations of the loss factor with strain amplitude and temperature, as well as the computed dissipated energy, showed that increasing the silane content in silica compounds enhances the dissipation properties at both low and high temperatures, corresponding to traction and rolling resistance, respectively. This is due to the increased strength of chemical bonds between the filler and polymer chains. However, the finding of both methods reveals that for the selected compounds and total filler volume fraction and CB/silica ratio, there is an optimum value for the silane‐to‐silica ratio (13.3%). Moreover, it was also shown that the numerical technique presented in this work provides a practical framework for assessing the dynamic properties of the compounds without the need to perform dynamic tests.