• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.159-166
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• 2015

Silica which is used for reinforcing filler in tire industry is widely known as eco-friendly material exerting $CO_2$ reduction effect through decrease of rolling resistance and improvement of wet grip. Generally silica is classified as a highly polar filler because it contains a large number of silanol (Si-OH) group on its surface. And also silica gives a lower reinforcing effect than carbon black due to its poorer rubber-filler interaction. Therefore silica is treated with silane coupling agent or activator, then following the conventional rubber blend method, vulcanized sheets were prepared using a hot press, and cure characteristics, mechanical properties and abrasion resistance of the test specimens were investigated. It was found that with an increase in the silane coupling agent content the tensile strength, 300% modulus and abrasion resistance increased while Mooney viscosity decreased and crosslink density slightly increased with an increase of activator.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2020

Various studies have been conducted to improve silica dispersion of silica filled tire tread compounds; among them, silica wet masterbatch (WMB) technology is known to be suitable for manufacturing silica filled compounds that have high silica content and high dispersibility. Till now, the WMB study is focused on the natural rubber (NR) or emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber (ESBR) that does not have a silica-affinity functional group, and a study of NR or ESBR having a silica-affinity functional group is still not well known. Unlike the dry masterbatch technology, the WMB technology can solve the problems associated with the high Mooney viscosity when applied to silica-friendly rubber. However, a coagulant suitable for each functional group has not yet been determined. Therefore, in this study, different coagulant applied silica WMB was prepared by applying calcium chloride, sulfuric acid, acetic acid, and propionic acid by using a carboxyl group functionalized reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer ESBR. The evaluation of the WMB compounds revealed that the calcium chloride added WMB compound showed excellent silica dispersion, abrasion resistance, and rolling resistance.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.92-99
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• 2001

Silica-filled rubber compounds have slower cure characteristics than carbon black-filled ones due to the adsorption of curatives on the silica surface. Fatty acid was used as a cure activator along with zinc oxide in a sulfur cure system. Poly(ethylene glycol), PEG, was used in silica-filled rubber compounds to prevent adsorption of the curatives on the silica surface. In this study, influence of the size of fatty acid and PEG on properties of silica-filled NR compounds was investigated. It was found that the size of fatty acid and PEG affected the curt: characteristics and physical properties. The cure rate becomes faster as the PEG size increases. By increasing the size of fatty acid or PEG, the delta torque of the compound decreases while the Mooney viscosity increases. The modulus of the vulcanizate decreases with increasing the molecular weight of fatty acid or PEG. The experimental results were explained by the filler dispersion and by the prevention of the curative-adsorption on the silica surface.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.223-233
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• 2021

In this study, epoxidized liquid isoprene rubber (E-LqIR) was used as a processing aid in a silica-filled natural rubber compound to improve the fuel efficiency, abrasion resistance, and oil migration problems of truck and bus radial tire tread. The wear resistance, fuel efficiency, and extraction resistance of the compound were evaluated according to the molecular weight of E-LqIR. Results of the evaluation showed that the E-LqIR compound had a lower chemical crosslink density than that of a treated distillate aromatic extract (TDAE) oil compound because of the sulfur consumption of E-LqIR. However, the filler-rubber interaction improved because of the reaction of E-LqIR with silica and crosslink with the base rubber by sulfur. As the molecular weight of E-LqIR increased, crosslink with sulfur was facilitated, and the filler-rubber interaction improved, resulting in improved abrasion resistance. The fuel efficiency performance of the E-LqIR compound was poorer than that of the TDAE oil compound because of the low chemical crosslink density and hysteresis loss at the free chain end of E-LqIR. However, the fuel efficiency performance improved as the molecular weight of E-LqIR increased.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2024

As regulations on greenhouse gas emission have strengthened globally, the demand for improved fuel efficiency in automobiles continues to rise. In response, the tire industry is actively conducting research to improve fuel efficiency by enhancing tire performance. In this study, silica-filled epoxidized natural rubber (ENR)/butadiene rubber (BR) blend compounds were manufactured according to ENR types and silica contents, and their physical properties and vulcanizate structure were evaluated. ENR-50, which has a higher epoxide content than ENR-25, exhibited stronger filler-rubber interaction, resulting in superior abrasion resistance. In addition, because of its high glass transition temperature (T_g), the wet grip performance of ENR-50 improved, even though the rolling resistance increased. Increasing the amount of silica had little effect on the abrasion resistance due to the increase in filler-rubber interaction and decrease in toughness. In addition, ENR-50 exhibited better wet grip performance; however, the rolling resistance increased. The results indicated that truck bus radial (TBR) tire tread compounds can be designed by applying ENR-50 to improve wear resistance and wet grip performance. In addition, by applying ENR-25 and reducing the silica contents improve fuel efficiency.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.411-416
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• 2014

Due to the polar characteristics of silica compared to carbon black, the degree of silica dispersion, which affects the mechanical properties of rubber compounds, is an important issue. Wolff first introduced the in-rubber structure of particles (${\alpha}_F$) to express the structure development in the compounds; however, with the introduction of bifunctional silanes, his theory could not explain the 3-dimensional network structure of the compounds. Later his theory was expanded to express the composite interaction parameter (in-rubber structure of the compound) (${\alpha}_C$), which included Wolff's filler-filler interaction parameter (${\alpha}_F$), however, there was no reported experimental result proving the theory. This research first experimentally expressed the in-rubber structure of the compound ${\alpha}_C$ (= ${\alpha}_F+{\alpha}_{FP}$(filler-silane-rubber interaction parameter) + ${\alpha}_P$ (rubber-rubber interaction parameter)) upon mono- and bifunctional silane treated silica filled natural rubber (NR) compounds. Using different structure silanes, i.e. PTES, OTES, TESPD, and TESPT, the ${\alpha}_C$ value of each compound was measured and calculated. The ${\alpha}_C$ value of TESPT treated silica filled compound was 1.64, which composed of ${\alpha}_F$ (0.99), ${\alpha}_{FP}$ (0.31), and ${\alpha}_P$ (0.34).

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.263-273
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• 2004

The effects of zinc surfactant (ZB) on the bis(triethoxysilylpropyl)disulfide (TESPD)-silica mixture in natural rubber (NR) and solution butadiene-co-styrene rubber(S-SBR) were compared with respect to their rheological property, processability, physical properties, and silica dispersion. In the NR compound, addition of the ZB increased the reversion resistance time (T-2), the tensile modulus, and the BO time; however, lowered the viscosity, the HBU, and tans values. In the S-SBR copound, addition of the ZB increased the $tan{\delta}$ values while lowered the T-2, the tensile modulus the BO time, the viscosity, and the HBU of the compound. In the NR compounds, addition of the ZB significantly increased the processability and mechanical property. However, in the S-SBR compounds, it improved the processability the mechanical property was not improved.

• Rubber Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2008

Effects of silane modifier, bis(triethoxysilylpropyl) tetrasulfide (TESPT(S4)) and bis(triethoxysilylpropyl) disulfide (TESPD(S2)), on silica filled compound were investigated upon processability, dynamic, mechanical, heat build-up, blowout properties, and silica dispersion in natural rubber (NR). The temperature of the S2 treated silica compound generated higher than that of the S4 treated compound during internal mixer compounding. The shear viscosity of the S2 compound exhibited lower than that of the S4 compound and the viscosity measured in dynamic mode was close to each other. The elongation modulus of the S2 compound exhibited lower than that of the S4; however, the tear resistance strength of the S2 compound exhibited higher than that of the S4 compound. The loss tan$\delta$ values of the S2 compound exhibited higher than those of the S4 at room temperature. The augmentation of the test temperature lowered the tan$\delta$ values of each compound, which results in close tan$\delta$ values to each other at $100^{\circ}C$. The S2 compound deformed less than the S4 compound, and the blowout time of each compound was close to each other. The S2 compound generated more heat build-up than the S4 compound. The abrasion loss of the S2 compound was less than that of the S4 compound. The size of the silica agglomerate reduced on both S4 and S2 compounds upon vulcanization. The addition of the bifunctional silanes (S2 and S4) on silica filled NR compound improved the processability of each compound and their effects were more significant on the S2 compound than the S4 compound. After vulcanization the silica agglomerate size of each compound reduced compared with before vulcanization.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1473-1476
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• 2006

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.235-244
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• 2012

A thiazole type accelerator MBT (2-mercapto benzothiazole) was added into silica filled natural rubber (NR) compound with various concentrations (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 phr). The effects of MBT on the cure rate, mechanical property, degree of rubber-filler interaction (${\alpha}_F$), crosslinking density, and viscoelastic property ($tan{\delta}$) were investigated. As accelerator concentration increased, the $t_{s2}$ and $t_{90}$ decreased and the crosslinking density and modulus at 300% elongation increased. The tensile strength and elongation increased up to 3 phr and no further increased at 4 phr. The $tan{\delta}$ value measured at room temperature was higher than that of the $70^{\circ}C$. The ${\alpha}_F$ value was not affected by the addition of MBT. The mechanisms for the vulcanization rate were reviewed.