Mechanical properties development of high-ACN nitrile-butadiene rubber/organoclay nanocomposites

The nanocomposites of nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) with high acrylonitrile content and Cloisite 30B were prepared in the presence of the resorcinol and hexamethylenetetramine (RH) complex as a compatibiliser. The structure of the NBR nanocomposites was characterised by cure characteristics, XRD, TEM and mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposites containing RH were far superior to those of NBR nanocomposites alone. Some hyperelastic models were approved on comparative study of tensile properties and the effect of RH compatibiliser on the material parameters of the models was investigated. The Mori-Tanaka and Halpin-Tsai models were used to estimate the modulus of prepared nanocomposites and compared with experimental results. The effect of RH on the intercalation/exfoliation of silicate layers was investigated from combination of effective particle method and Mori-Tanaka theory. This technique showed that the average number of silicate layers in each effective particle can decrease with RH compatibiliser.