Rubber–Silica Hybrid Nanocomposites

Abstract

Polarity of the rubber matrices plays an important role in assigning the final structure and properties of the resultant hybrid nanocomposites. Silica is a polar filler and needs to be compatibilized with the rubber to aid dispersion and also to achieve substantial reinforcement. Polar rubbers can restrict the silica particles from self-aggregation in their very early stage of synthesis, forming more rubber-coated silica domains by virtue of greater rubber–silica interactions. Different characteristics of solvents seriously affect the sol–gel reaction in solution. This in turn influences the physico-mechanical properties of the resultant rubber–silica hybrid composites. Greater the solubility, more homogeneous is the precursor rubber–tetraethoxysilane solution and better is the distribution of silica, keeping aside the rubber–silica interaction factor. Rubber–silica interaction featuring in rubber nanocomposites generates tremendous inquisitiveness simply because of distinctly different filler configuration. A. Bandyopadhyay et al. have employed the same equation for understanding the reinforcement behavior in acrylic rubber–silica and epoxidized natural rubber–silica hybrid nanocomposites.