TREATMENT FOR REMOVING Zn COMPOUNDS FROM SILICA-FILLED VULCANIZED RUBBER AND ANALYSIS OF SILICA AGGREGATE DISPERSION

Treatment of silica-filled rubber vulcanizates with a diethyl ether/conc. HCl solution for 96 h at room temperature can remove most Zn compounds smaller than approximately 90 nm, which account for most of the residual ZnO, rubber soluble Zn compounds and ZnS resulting from crosslinking reactions of by-products. However, a very small number of giant ZnO particles of a few μm in size remain after such treatment. In the silica-filled SBR matrix treated for 96 h, a significant increase in crosslink density and Young's modulus was observed due to crosslinking reactions after HCl was removed from HCl-added rubber molecules. This increase in crosslink density was accompanied by an increase in the surrounding layer of bound rubber closest to the silica of the two bound rubber layers around it and a decrease in the rubber matrix of the same volume. It is inferred that there was little change in the aggregate structure of the silica due to these volume changes. On the other hand, USAXS measurements of the treated samples showed shoulders derived from silica aggregates, and clear high-resolution X-ray CT images were obtained due to the removal of Zn compounds smaller than approximately 90 nm in size. The relationship between these shoulders and the size of silica aggregates obtained by X-ray CT imaging was qualitatively consistent, and it was not affected by the presence or absence of TESP and DPG, but was dependent on the rubber type. The distance between nearest neighbor particles of silica aggregates, determined by X-ray CT imaging, also depended on the types of rubber.