Investigation on the ageing properties of nitrile rubber reinforced halloysite nanotubes/carbon black hybrid composites

Abstract

The cardinal intention of the current work is to investigate the impact of the thermo-oxidative ageing and oil ageing resistance of nitrile rubber(NBR)composites based on tubular halloysite and nanostructured black filler. All the composites were subjected to air ageing and immersion studies in different solvents (IRM 901 and IRM 903) for a duration of 70 h and at 100 °C. The alterations in the mechanical traits namely stress at rupture and elongation at rupture were evaluated. Embodiment of HNT in NBR samples resulted in superior resistance to swelling in various fluid mediums in comparison to control sample.. All the NBR hybrid nanocomposites demonstrated excellent retention of tensile attributes after ageing in comparison to the black filler embodied typical NBR composite. Further NBR sample with 6phr HNT demonstrated a retention of stress at rupture and elongation at rupture of 99 % and 91 % in hot air, 99 % and 91 % in IRM 901, 97 % and 95 % in IRM 903 respectively. The results can be attributed to enhanced dispersion of HNT in the elastomeric matrix and augmented elastomer-filler interfacial interactions. These investigations show that using tubular HNT to partially replace standard CB filler is a potential way to make NBR composites exhibiting noteworthy mechanical, thermo-oxidative and hot oil ageing attributes.