Investigating the viscoelastic and hysteresis behavior of nano silica/carbon black hybrid reinforced styrene-butadiene rubber vulcanizates via surface silanization

With the thought of green tires and the need of replacing carbon reinforcing fillers with noncarbon silica filler, the effectiveness of silane surface modification on dispersion state, dynamic viscoelastic, hysteresis, and abrasion resistance of SBR vulcanizates filled with a hybrid of carbon black (CB)/nano SiO2 is investigated. In situ surface modification of nano SiO2 is carried out using bis-(?-triethoxysilylpropyl)-tetrasulfide (TESPT), and various compounds with different ratios of CB/SiO2 are prepared via a melt mixing process in an internal bath mixer. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FT-IR spectroscopy revealed improved dispersion of silica and CB clusters with enhanced molecular interactions using in situ surface modification with 5 phr of TESPT is performed. Evidence for enhanced molecular interactions included lower dynamic loss (tand) and less hysteresis measured via dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). Our results indicate that appropriate modification of silica allows partial replacement of carbon black with silica for production of eco-friendly rubber products.