The Effect of Excess Silane-69 Used for Surface Modification on Cure Characteristic and Mechanical Properties of Precipitated Silica Filled Natural Rubber (PSi/NR)

Abstract

This research is concentrated on the effect of concentration of silane-69 used for surface modification on precipitated silica (PSi), on cure characteristic and mechanical properties of PSi filled NR. The PSi content in this study was fixed at 20 phr in order to reveal the effect of silane used to modify PSi, on NR compound and vulcanizate. Moving Die Rheometer (MDR) was used to characterize cure characteristic of rubber compounds. Generally, scorch and cure time of NR would increase with the addition of PSi due to the absorption of accelerator on its surface whereas the addition of Si-69 modified PSi would reduce both scorch and cure time. It was found in this research that the excess amount of Si-69 used increased scorch and cure time of rubber compounds. This was thought to be that the excess of Si-69 led to the formation of polysiloxane clusters which could absorb accelerator in rubber compound and resulted in a prolonged scorch and cure time. In term of vulcanized rubber, it was found that maximum torque increased with the concentration of Si-69 up to 6 %. The polysiloxane formed during the cure characterization test was responsible for the slightly decreased torque after 6% of Si-69 treatment. Nonetheless, even with high concentration of Si-69 used, torque was still higher than that of untreated PSi filled NR. This is widely understood that sulfur atoms in Si-69 molecule are able to participate in the bonding between rubber and silane molecules resulted in the enhancement of crosslink density of the vulcanizate rubber. The increased of modulus at 200 % elongation, tensile strength under tension, with the silane concentration, was evidence of the crosslink enhancement. Tear strength and hardness of the vulcanizates exhibiting the increment, with the silane used, also clearly confirmed the bonding between Si-69 and rubber molecules. It was elucidated from the research that excess of Si-69 would lead to polysiloxane formation, cluster form of silane and crosslinking density. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) micrographs and swelling test are also presented to confirm the phenomena.