Synthesis and Characterization of Chemically Crosslinked Styrene-Butadiene Rubber Nanogels and their Effect on Various Properties of the Rubber

Abstract

Abstract Nano-sized styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) latex gels were prepared by pre-vulcanizing SBR latex with different sulfur to accelerator ratios. These gels were characterized by swelling studies, dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties. With the increase in sulfur to accelerator ratio, the gels had higher amount of crosslink density and gel content. Particle size distribution did not alter much in the crosslinked gels. Incorporation of these nanogels into raw SBR led to the considerable drop in viscosity of the gel filled systems under capillary melt flow conditions. However, the reduction in viscosity was found to be dependent on the loading and crosslink density of the nanogels. Energy dispersive X-ray mapping of sulfur was used to check the dispersion of these gels into raw SBR matrix. The die swell values of gel filled SBR were much lower than that of the raw SBR. The reduction in principal normal stress difference values combined with the reinforcement effect of the gels was found to be responsible for the lowering of die swell values. Scanning electron photomicrographs of extrudates of gel filled systems showed much-improved surface smoothness compared to the unfilled SBR. The mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties also showed excellent improvement in modulus with the addition of gels in the raw rubber. A new empirical relationship was proposed to explain the reinforcement properties of nanogels as viscoelastic fillers.