Studies on the structure and formation mechanism of carbon gel in the carbon black filled polyisoprene rubber composite

Abstract

The structure and formation mechanism of carbon gel in carbon black filled polyisoprene composites were studied by the pulsed NMR technique. The composites were prepared from a wide range of molecular weights by a solution blend. The carbon gels were extracted from the composites by a solvent-extraction method. The content of carbon gel was not governed by the molecular weight of rubber but was controlled by the viscosity of rubber solutions which were used for the blend. Three rubber phases, having different spin-spin relaxation times, were detected in all the carbon gels. The increase of carbon gel content in the composites was mainly from the increase of highly mobile rubber phase, and the gel became soft with the development of this phase. On the other hand, the content and structure of glassy rubber phases were not affected by the size of the carbon gel, and they showed almost a constant value despite the large change in the carbon gel content. A part of the highly mobile rubber phase in the gels could be removed by solvent extraction at high temperature. These results suggest that the formation of carbon gel is primarily governed by two factors : One is the well-known rubber-carbon black interaction, and the other is a physical crosslink between the carbon gel and unbound rubber molecules during blend.