Surface treatment effects on the mechanical properties of silica carbon black reinforced natural rubber/butadiene rubber composites

For the first time, phenolic formaldehyde resin (PF)-treated silica carbon black (SiCB) were prepared with different treatment conditions and their effect as fillers on the mechanical properties of filler filled natural rubber/butadiene rubber (NR/BR) composites were investigated in detail. The PF coating layer on the SiCB derived from rusk husk not only promoted the dispersion of the fillers but also improved the interfacial interactions between fillers and the rubber matrix. As a result, both the cross-link density and mechanical properties of the obtained composites were effectively enhanced. The filler SiCB with 3 wt % PF surface treatment greatly improved the tensile strength of NR/BR composites and reached 7.1 MPa, which increased by 73.7% compared with that of SiCB-filled NR/BR composites. The improved interfacial interactions promoted higher energy dissipation, leading to simultaneously enhancing the glass transition temperature of the obtained composites. Due to the easy processing and low cost of filler as well as the effectively enhanced mechanical properties of composites, the PF-coating methodology has a great potential for practical applications in SiCB reinforced high-performance composites. A commercial filler, carbon black (N774), was also used in this study and evaluated under the same conditions for comparison.