Effect of Liquid Natural Rubber on Properties of Natural Rubber/Silica Composite Prepared by Wet Compounding

Natural rubber/silica composites (NR/SiO2) was prepared by wet compounding technology with liquid natural rubber(LNR) as compatibilizer. Curing characteristics, processing properties, filler dispersion and mechanical properties were investigated.The results showe that the optimum cure time is decreased 4.16 min, the processing properties of the composites were improved with the incorporation of LNR; better silica dispersion in NR in presence of LNR; the when silica is 60 phr, tensile strength and tear strength of the vulcanizates were increase 25.73% and 66.59%respectively; as far as the dynamic mechanical properties are concerned, the W(NR/SiO2) composites with LNR owned a combination of high wet skid resistance and low rolling resistance. It is revealed that LNR has better compatibility, which is attributed to LNR reaction with both NR and SiO2 to form compatibilizing interface.