The past, present and future of carbon black as a rubber reinforcing filler – A review

Carbon black is a reinforcing filler widely applied in the rubber elastomers manufacture. This review is focused on the development of the life cycle of carbon black. First, in order to assess the efficiency of final rubber performance, the critical physical and chemical properties of carbon black were evaluated. A short and clear illustration of mixing procedure has been discussed. Besides, a summary on eight mechanism theories of the rubber-char filler interaction have been listed, which is the first review summarize and compare the so far reinforcement mechanism theories of carbon black. New directions of the reinforcing mechanism research were raised. The production process of carbon black is not only energy-consuming, contributes to global CO2 emissions significantly, but also utilizes non-renewable feedstock, making it unsustainable. The future of carbon black – the modification and the production of its substitutes from biomass and relevant materials were proposed.