Tires for Mars Rovers: Reinforcing BR and BR/Vinyl-Methyl Silicone Rubber Compounds with Carbon Black, Nano-CaCO3, or Silica for Good Low-Temperature Dynamic-Mechanical Performance

IF 0.9 Q4 ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL

Tire Science and Technology Pub Date : 2023-05-12 DOI:10.2346/tire.23.23003

R. Anyszka, Lili Jia, A. Blume

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Dynamic increment in Mars exploration missions necessitates the development of new materials that can satisfy the ever more stringent requirements. Currently, most of the materials used for manufacturing Mars rovers and landers are based on various metal alloys that provide high reliability in the Martian environment. However, the future planned missions, including the first human crew landing on Mars, require the development of new rubber materials that could be used for sealing Mars suits, for tires/tracks, and for damping systems for heavy Mars rovers. This research aims to investigate the properties of butadiene rubber (BR) and butadiene/vinyl-methyl silicone rubber blends (BR/VMQ) filled with various reinforcing fillers: carbon blacks (CBs), silicas, and nanometric calcium carbonate (nano-CaCO3), in order to evaluate their performance from the point of view of Mars' environmental applications. The study revealed that the designed composites exhibit very good low-temperature elasticity, and the addition of 30 phr of high surface area CB (N220) or silica (Ultrasil 9100) results in good mechanical properties of the compounds. The mechanical properties of the BR/VMQ blends depend on the type of reinforcing filler. The addition of the CBs resulted in better mechanical properties, while the incorporation of silicas worsens the mechanical properties of BR/VMQ blends in comparison to their BR counterparts. The high-cis BR grade exhibits a strong tendency to crystallize in the operating temperature range on Mars (crystallization ∼−60 °C, melting ∼−20 °C), and the addition of the fillers nucleates the crystallization, resulting in a higher amount of the crystalline phase. This might be a serious problem for any sealing application of the rubber compounds. For this reason, a non-crystallizable BR grade is recommended for further studies.

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火星漫游者轮胎:用炭黑、纳米碳酸钙或二氧化硅增强BR和BR/乙烯基甲基硅橡胶化合物，以获得良好的低温动态机械性能

火星探测任务的动态增长需要开发能够满足越来越严格要求的新材料。目前，用于制造火星车和着陆器的大多数材料都是基于各种金属合金，这些合金在火星环境中提供了高可靠性。然而，未来计划的任务，包括第一批人类宇航员登陆火星，需要开发新的橡胶材料，用于密封火星服、轮胎/轨道和重型火星车的阻尼系统。本研究旨在研究以炭黑（CB）、二氧化硅和纳米碳酸钙（纳米CaCO3）为增强填料的丁橡胶（BR）和丁/乙烯基甲基硅橡胶共混物（BR/VMQ）的性能，以从Mars的环境应用角度评价其性能。研究表明，所设计的复合材料表现出非常好的低温弹性，并且添加30phr的高比表面积CB（N220）或二氧化硅（Ultrasil 9100）可使化合物具有良好的机械性能。BR/VMQ共混物的力学性能取决于增强填料的类型。与BR共混物相比，CB的加入导致了更好的机械性能，而二氧化硅的加入使BR/VMQ共混物的机械性能恶化。在火星上的操作温度范围内（结晶～−60°C，熔融～−20°C），高顺式BR级表现出强烈的结晶倾向，并且填料的添加使结晶成核，导致结晶相的量更高。这对于橡胶化合物的任何密封应用来说都可能是一个严重的问题。因此，建议使用不结晶BR级进行进一步研究。

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来源期刊

Tire Science and Technology ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL-

CiteScore

2.10

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Tire Science and Technology is the world"s leading technical journal dedicated to tires. The Editor publishes original contributions that address the development and application of experimental, analytical, or computational science in which the tire figures prominently. Review papers may also be published. The journal aims to assure its readers authoritative, critically reviewed articles and the authors accessibility of their work in the permanent literature. The journal is published quarterly by the Tire Society, Inc., an Ohio not-for-profit corporation whose objective is to increase and disseminate knowledge of the science and technology of tires.