Morphology and performance of styrene butadiene rubber filled with modified graphite nanoplatelet and carbon black

Abstract

In our work, effects of 2-mercapto-1-methylimidazole modified graphite nanoplatelet (MMI–GN) and carbon black (CB) on static and dynamic mechanical properties of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) composites were studied. MMI–GN is synthesized by ball-mill process, and the result reveals that π–π interactions existed between MMI and GN. The results demonstrate that the static and dynamic mechanical performances of SBR/CB/MMI–GN composites are significantly improved over these of SBR/CB and SBR/CB/GN composites. Compared with SBR/CB, the tensile strength, tear strength, and modulus at 300% elongation of SBR/CB/MMI–GN–3 are greatly improved by 45%, 27%, and 4%, respectively. And the rolling resistance of SBR/CB/MMI–GN–3 is reduced by 3.7% with remaining almost unchanged in the wet grip property. The superiority of MMI–GN in the enhancement for the overall performance of SBR/CB composites is attributed to the well dispersion of GN throughout the SBR matrix and the enhanced interfacial interactions between GN and the SBR matrix. This work might expedite synthesis of the graphite-based materials for enhancing rubber composites, and enlarge the potential applications of modified graphite to fabricate the high-performance rubber composites. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.