Wear Particulate Matters and Physical Properties of ENR/BR Tread Compounds with Different Ratio of Silica and Carbon Black Binary Filler Systems

The demand for truck bus radial (TBR) tires with enhanced fuel efficiency and wear resistance have grown in recent years. In addition, as the issue of particulate matter and air pollution increases, efforts are being made to reduce the generation of particulate matter. In this study, the properties of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) containing a silica-friendly functional group were evaluated by considering it as a base rubber and varying the silica ratio in this binary filler system. The results showed that the wear resistance of the NR/BR blend compound decreased as the silica ratio increased. In contrast, the ENR/BR blend compound exhibited an increase in wear resistance as the silica ratio was increased. In particular, the ENR-50/BR blend compound showed the best wear resistance due to the presence of several epoxide groups. Furthermore, we observed that for tan 6 at 60 degrees C, higher epoxide content resulted in the higher Tg of the rubber, indicating a higher tan 6 at 60 degrees C. On the other hand, it was confirmed that increasing the silica ratio decreased the value of tan 6 at 60 degrees C in all compounds. In addition, we measured the amount of wear particulate matters generated from the compound wear. These measurements confirmed that in the binary filler system, regardless of the filler type, the quantity of the generated wear particulate matters as the filler-rubber interaction increased . In conclusion, the silica filled ENR/BR blend compound exhibited the lowest generation of wear particulate matters.