Hierarchically Self-Organized Dissipative Structures of Filler Particles in Poly(styrene-ran-butadiene) Rubbers

Abstract

We elucidated the spatial distribution of filler particles in cross-linked poly(styrene-ran-butadiene) rubbers (SBR) developed under a typical fillers/rubbers compounding process as one of dissipative structures formed under a stress field imposed on the given system. Two types of fillers and two types of SBR were used to prepare four kinds of the fillers/rubbers composites to investigate effects of specific polymer/filler interactions on the hierarchically self-organized dissipative structures under a given processing condition. The dispersion structures of the filler particles were explored by using the combined small-angle scattering (CSAS) method, which enables the exploration of the structures existing over the wide length scale ranging from ∼6 nm to ∼20 μm. The measured CSAS profiles were analyzed by using a newly developed scattering theory on fractal structures built up by the “cluster” as their lower cutoff objects. This cluster is composed of a few aggregates, defined as the fused primary filler...