Abstract
Silica as an active reinforcing filler can significantly improve the mechanical properties of many elastomer applications. The use of the silica – silane system for a tire tread compound enables a considerable improvement in the properties of the tire. However, silica has a polar surface covered with silanol groups which have a strong tendency to form hydrogen bonds, resulting in high filler – filler interactions as well as high flocculation of filler clusters. The Payne effect measurement is used to quantify the extent of these filler – filler interactions which affect the in-rubber properties. To quantify the Payne effect, the compounds are subjected to a strain sweep from low (0.56 %) to high (100 %) strains in the rubber process analyzer (RPA) and the resulting stress difference is proportional to the extent of the filler network breakdown. However, as the storage time of unvulcanized compounds increases, flocculation of filler clusters occurs which influences the results of this measurement. To avoid this effect, the compounds are usually stored below room temperature (0 – 10oC). In this investigation, it is observed that storing compounds at low temperatures (~ 7oC) does not significantly reduce the flocculation of silica clusters. An additional second sweep is required to eliminate this effect, however, this subsequently increases the measurement time. Therefore, a new method to measure the uncured Payne effect with a single strain sweep in the RPA is developed. It is observed that a single sweep from high to low strain (instead of low-to-high sweep) is sufficient to eliminate the flocculation and achieve more reliable results while keeping the measurement time at comparable level.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Publication status | Published - 9 Nov 2022 |
Event | 14th Annual Fall Rubber Colloquium Conference 2022 - Deutsches Institut für Kautschuktechnologie e. V., Online, Germany Duration: 8 Nov 2022 → 10 Nov 2022 Conference number: 14 |
Conference
Conference | 14th Annual Fall Rubber Colloquium Conference 2022 |
---|---|
Abbreviated title | KHK 2022 |
Country/Territory | Germany |
City | Online |
Period | 8/11/22 → 10/11/22 |