Understanding the influence of anti‐reversion agent and metal oxide dose on natural rubber–carbon black system

Sulfidic linkages that are formed during the vulcanization process of natural rubber (NR) are unstable at a higher temperature and can be reversed into conjugated diene. To overcome such issue and to build a compound that is hostile to inversion and with increasing service life, anti‐reversion agent (ARA), for example, N,N′‐4,4′‐diphenylmethyene bismaleimide (BMDM), is added into the formulation. This work explains the conjugation reaction mechanism of conjugated diene and BMDM by means of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The first phase of this study is associated with the change in ARA dosage keeping ZnO dosage the same. It is observed that 5 phr of BMDM and 2 phr ZnO combination (ARA4) shows lowest reversion at 160°C. The modulus value at 300% elongation increased 12% by the incorporation of BMDM as compared to the compound of no BMDM (ARA1). The second part is all about keeping BMDM dosage the same at 5 phr level and varying ZnO phr by 3, 4, and 5. From the overall results, it is observed that at a suitable dosage of BMDM and ZnO (5 phr BMDM and 3 phr ZnO combination [ARA5]), least reversion can be achieved and vulcanizates containing optimized BMDM and ZnO show better retention properties after aerobic aging as compared to ARA1.