Study on properties of hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber filled with polyaniline compound silica

Abstract Polyaniline was synthesized by chemical oxidation polymerization, and polyaniline‐silica (PANI‐SiO 2 ) nanocomposites were prepared by precipitation method. A reinforced PANI‐SiO 2 /HNBR was obtained by filling the PANI‐SiO 2 composites into hydrogenated nitrile rubber (HNBR). The amino cations contained in acid‐doped PANI can electrostatically attract SiO 3 2− , so that SiO 2 can grow directly on the surface of PANI, thus reducing the agglomeration of silica and improving the mechanical properties of reinforced rubber. The effect of PANI and PANI‐SiO 2 composites on mechanical properties of hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber was studied. The results show that PANI improves the dispersion of SiO 2 in HNBR. When the PANI‐SiO 2 composite (PANI content of 2%) in PANI‐SiO 2 /HNBR is 30 phr, the filler network is the weakest, and the dispersion of filler is the best in rubber, the maximum tensile strength of PANI‐SiO 2 /HNBR is 30.31 MPa, which is 1.87 times that of SiO 2 /HNBR, the tear strength is 27.7 MPa, which is 129.4% of that of SiO 2 reinforced packing with the same number of components. The hardness and elongation at break both increase. In addition, the permanent tensile deformation of PANI‐SiO 2 /HNBR is also reduced.