Graphene rubber toward high content and energy saving enabled by spray drying

Abstract

Graphene has always attracted widespread interest as a promising nano reinforcing filler for rubber. However, existing rubber preparation processes still difficult to find a balance between the high content of Graphene oxide (GO) addition and excellent dispersibility and interfacial interactions. And there are problems such as high energy consumption and long-time consumption in the production process. In this work, the content of GO in natural rubber (NR) was increased by spray drying, which effectively improved the performance of NR composites with high GO filler content. Compared with the NR composites filled with unmodified GO prepared by traditional latex blending method, the amount of GO added to the NR matrix was greatly increased to 30 phr without sacrificing excellent mechanical properties. More importantly, this process has the advantages of energy conservation and environmental protection. This means that users can add high content GO masterbatch with different ratios to mix with other rubbers to prepare rubber composites with the required GO content. This broadens the application of NR/GO composites and reduces production costs for the practical application of GO rubber in industry. Therefore, this work provides a new perspective for the preparation of energy-saving, environmentally friendly and high-performance graphene rubber tires.