Effect of Different Types of Rubbers and Carbon Black Grades on Curing Characteristics and Dynamic Properties for Anti-vibration Application

Abstract

Nowadays, the automotive industry is facing a major challenge to meet the changing demand on performance, material specifications and durability requirements. An anti-vibration part is a critical component in automotive, used to eliminate the vibration. In order to produce a good anti-vibration component, the rubber compound needs to be formulated with good damping properties. This research work focused on the effect of (unfilled) rubber types; natural rubber (SMR 60CV, SMR L, RSS) and synthetic rubber (SBR, NBR, CR, EPDM) and the effect of carbon black grades (N220, N330, N550, N774, N990). The curing characteristics and dynamic properties (dynamic stiffness, Kd) at 15, 45 and 100 Hz were analyzed. The curing characteristic results showed there is a relationship between both factors. The longer cure time for types of rubber indicates longer time is needed to break higher bond energy of the rubber chain. Meanwhile, for carbon black grades, the cure rate is gradually increased with lower carbon black surface area due to the diffusion limitation and lower chain mobility. The dynamic properties results were based on the Payne effect theory which influenced by the rubber bond structure that gave higher value of dynamic stiffness due to rubber-rubber interaction. For carbon black grades, the higher surface area of carbon black gave higher dynamic stiffness due to increased rubber-filler and filler-filler interactions.