Influence of Fillers Surface Characteristics on Bound Rubber Properties of Filled Natural Rubber Compounds

One of the most important phenomena in rubber science is the reinforcement by rigid entities, such as carbon black, clays, silicates and calcium carbonate. Thus, these fillers are added to rubber formulations to optimise properties that meet a given service application or set of performance parameters. Fillers can be divided into three categories reinforcing, semi-reinforcing and non-reinforcing. For a given elastomer and state of mix, bound rubber can be considered as a measurement of a surface activity of a filler and is considered as one of major factors in reinforcement. A strong rubber: filler interaction results in a large bound rubber content. Good dispersions and distribution of filler aggregates is also important for the full reinforcing potential of fillers to be reached. In this study, the influence of fillers on bound rubber content of Natural Rubber compounds were determined and compared. Results showed that the bound rubber content followed the trend of Carbon Black>Silica>Carbon Black>Starch. The two main filler characteristics that affect the bound rubber properties are the filler particle size and surface activity. The specific activity of the filler is determined by the physical and chemical nature of the filler surface in relation to that of elastomer. Keywords: reinforcement, surface energy