Studies on Interfacial Characteristics of Highly Dispersible Silica Reinforced Epoxidized Natural Rubber Compounds

ABSTRACT The present work examines the effect of two different specific surface areas of highly dispersible silica (HDS)-reinforced epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) composites. The influences of different blend ratio between ENRs consisting 25 and 50 mol% of epoxidation-based (ENR-25/ENR-50) composites was studied in detail. The primary objective is to investigate the interfacial area of HDS surface involved in filler-to-rubber interaction mechanisms for the better reinforcement. Notable improvement in overall properties of these green composites are corroborated with various meticulous characterization including cure characteristics, specific bound rubber content, physicomechanical, dynamic mechanical properties, etc. Increasing the specific surface area of HDS and their subsequent interface with ENR matrix invokes its superior dispersion. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) has been used to analyze the particles network and clusters establishment in green composites. The present SAXS method provides a unique insight into the cluster formation according to the Beaucage model. However, SAXS results demonstrate that particles networks can be effectively suppressed by increasing specific surface area of HDS. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT