Non-polar Rubber Research Articles

Robust and Flexible Rubber Composite with High Photothermal Properties Achieved by In Situ ZDMA Assisted Dispersion of Eumelanin and its Hydrophobic Photothermal Application.

Eumelanin, a natural, biocompatible, and biodegradable photothermal agent derived from biomass, has attracted increasingly considerable attention due to its outstanding photothermal conversion efficiency. Unfortunately, its tendency to aggregate in flexible non-polar polymers, owing to its abundant polar groups on the surface, severely restricted the application of eumelanin in photothermal composite field. Herein, a feasible strategy is proposed to disperse eumelanin in non-polar rubber matrix via in situ generation of Zinc dimethacrylate (ZDMA). The graft-polymerization of ZDMA promotes the interfacial compatibility between styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and eumelanin, achieving a uniform dispersion of eumelanin in SBR. The rubber composite exhibits a considerable tensile strength of 11.4MPa, acceptable elongation at break of 146%, and outstanding photothermal conversion efficiency of up to 75.2% with only 1wt% of eumelanin. Furthermore, based on the easy-processing of SBR matrix, the composite is treated with a sandpaper template technique and sprayed with trimethoxy(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl)silane (PFDTMS) to endow the material with near superhydrophobicity (water contact angle of 147.9°) capacity. Hydrophobicity provides excellent icing resistance, with droplet surfaces extending more than twice as long to freeze. Moreover, this hydrophobic photothermal material exhibits remarkable anti-frosting, de-frosting, and de-icing capabilities.

Hybrid Carbon Black/Silica Reinforcing System for High-Performance Green Tread Rubber.

Silica, as a high-quality reinforcing filler, can satisfy the requirements of high-performance green tread rubber with high wet-skid resistance, low rolling resistance, and low heat generation. However, the silica surface contains abundant silicon hydroxyl groups, resulting in a severe aggregation of silica particles in non-polar rubber matrix. Herein, we explored a carbon black (CB)/silica hybrid reinforcing strategy to prepare epoxidized natural rubber (ENR)-based vulcanizates. Benefiting from the reaction and interaction between the epoxy groups on ENR chains and the silicon hydroxyl groups on silica surfaces, the dispersion uniformity of silica in the ENR matrix was significantly enhanced. Meanwhile, the silica can facilitate the dispersity and reinforcing effect of CB particles in the ENR matrix. By optimizing the CB/silica blending ratios, we realized high-performance ENR vulcanizates with simultaneously improved mechanical strength, wear resistance, resilience, anti-aging, and damping properties, as well as reduced heat generation and rolling resistance. For example, compared with ENR vulcanizates with only CB fillers, those with CB/silica hybrid fillers showed ~10% increase in tensile strength, ~20% increase in elongation at break, and ~20% increase in tensile retention rate. These results indicated that the ENR compounds reinforced with CB/silica hybrid fillers are a promising candidate for high-performance green tread rubber materials.

Enhanced mechanical properties of rubber/clay nanocomposite via compounding butadiene-styrene-vinyl pyridine rubber-contained clay gel with styrene butadiene rubber

An efficient and environmentally friendly strategy is demonstrated for improving the clay dispersion in non-polar rubbers and enhancing their interaction at the interface. In this work, we introduced butadiene-styrene-vinyl pyridine rubber (VPR) latex into clay gel to prepare VPR/clay gel, which was then incorporated into the styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) to prepare SBR/VPR/clay nanocomposites (NCs), by gel compounding method. The results showed that the dispersion of the clay layer improved by the incorporation of VPR, and the interfacial strength between clay and rubber increased. As a result, the mechanical properties of SBR/VPR/clay NC significantly improved. The tensile strength of SBR/VPR/clay NC was up to 16.3 MPa, which was 930 % higher than that of the pure SBR and nearly 30 % higher than that of the SBR/organoclay nanocomposite (SBR/oclay NC) with the same filler loading.

Performance enhancement of silica filled natural rubber nanocomposites using organic deep eutectic solvent

Silica is an important filler of “green tires” while its dispersion in the aid of silane coupling agents emits volatile organic compounds during rubber compounding and its invariably agglomeration in nonpolar rubber matrices enhances strain softening. Herein a highly active deep eutectic solvent (DES), synthesized using stearic acid as hydrogen bond donor and tetrabutylammonium chloride as hydrogen bond acceptor, is used to tailor reinforcement and softening behaviors and to replace the silane coupling agents for preparing volatile organic compounds-free nanocomposites. The results show that DES can regulate the crosslinking network structure of rubber matrix and accelerate the vulcanization by reacting with non-rubber components in natural rubber (NR) and by improving the proportion of disulfidic linkage. Furthermore, DES is able to improve the dispersion of silica, crosslinking density of NR and the interfacial interaction between silica and NR, and slow down the thermo-oxidative aging behavior. It could also weaken the damping and softening accompanying Mullins effect for the nanocomposites vulcanizates at high strains. In comparison with silane, DES endows the nanocomposites with superior vulcanization and mechanical properties, providing guides to mediate the reinforcement and strain softening behaviors and manufacture high-performance “green tires” in an energy-efficient approach.

Fast, Efficient, Catalyst-Free Epoxidation of Butyl Rubber Using Oxone/Acetone for Improved Filler Dispersion.

Incorporation of a polar filler such as silica into a nonpolar rubber matrix is challenging and energy consuming due to their large difference in polarity. Epoxidation of carbon-carbon double bonds in unsaturated rubber, especially for rubber with low unsaturation such as butyl rubber, is an effective method to introduce polar functional groups to the rubber macromolecules for better filler dispersion. Although different epoxidation reagents including hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), peracid, and meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (mCPBA) have been previously reported, these reagents have different drawbacks. In this article, a metal-free epoxidation reagent, dimethyl dioxirane (DMDO), generated from acetone and Oxone is explored for efficient epoxidation of rubber with low unsaturation. The effects of the addition manner of the reactant Oxone and buffer sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and reaction temperature on the epoxide formation are studied. Compared to peracid, a faster and more efficient epoxidation without the generation of a ring-opened product is achieved when DMDO is used as the epoxidation reagent. Furthermore, it is found that the epoxidation using DMDO is not sensitive to the water concentration in the rubber solution up to 20 wt %. The addition of quaternary ammonium salt as a phase transfer catalyst not only improves the conversion but also further increases the water tolerance to 25 wt %. The reaction conditions for preparation of epoxidized butyl rubber with different percentages of epoxide group are optimized by Design of Experiments (DoE). At the end, improved dispersion of silica in the matrix of epoxidized butyl rubber is achieved, as revealed by the rubber process analyzer (RPA) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Enhanced Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Styrene Butadiene Rubber Nanocomposites with Graphene Platelet Nano-powder

Nanocomposites are very important materials because it imparts superior properties than other composites with low level of filler loading. Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) is a non-polar rubber which acts as an insulator and has low electrical conductivity. Graphene platelet nano-powder from 0.1 to 1.25 phr level is incorporated into SBR rubber in order to improve the electrical properties. Comparative studies on electrical and mechanical properties of styrene butadiene rubber with graphene platelet nano-powder (GPN) by varying the filler content are made. The incorporation of Graphene platelet nano-powder increases the electrical conductivity in styrene butadiene rubber. It has been observed that there is a gradual increase in electrical conductivity by increasing the amount of nanofiller at higher frequency of about 100 kHz. The mechanical properties of styrene butadiene rubber are improved by the incorporation of Graphene platelet nano-powder. The effect of applied pressure and temperature on the volume resistivity and electrical conductivity of the composites is also investigated at a constant frequency of 100 kHz. The electrical properties of the SBR/GPN nanocomposites increases with increase in pressure and temperature up to a certain limit and then becomes constant.

Expanded bentonite clay by bio-adhesive resins and its impact on the mechanical, adhesion, and ultrasonic properties of NR/SBR/polyester cords systems

The improvement of the compatibility between two nonpolar rubber blends has a pivotal role to obtain superior blend properties. In this work, we utilized a facile and biofriendly modification approach of natural bentonite (BT) clay by two renewable resins, namely antibacterial gum rosin (GR) and soybean long oil alkyd resin (LAR). Which are considered to be toxicity-free reinforcing substance, thus preserving the bio-character of the substance. They used to increase the interlayer spacing distance between the BT galleries. This was proven by XRD and FT-IR. Natural rubber (NR)/styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) blend was loaded with variable proportions of EBT-based GR and LAR bio-resins ranging from 3 to 15 wt.%. The ultrasonic and tensile properties were used to assess the compatibility between the rubber blends. The outcomes revealed that NR/SBR-3EBT-GR and NR/SBR-15EBT-LAR nanocomposites possessed higher tensile strength and rapture at break. Furthermore, the proposed mechanism of EBT by GR and LAR bio-resins with NR/SBR blend was studied. The both nanocomposites were then subjected to different measurements such as morphology by SEM and TEM, H-pull-out adhesion between rubber blends and polyester (PET) cords, and antibacterial activity. These new filled blend systems can be effective supporting a wide range of potential applications such as green tubeless tires technologies.

Analysing the modifications of carbon black and other fillers after pyrolysis of model tyres

Carbon blacks (CBs) that are used as fillers to reinforce rubber contribute to tyre recycling issues. Although recovered carbon black (rCB) produced from the thermoconversion of waste tyres has poor reinforcing abilities in non-polar rubbers, the exact origin of the difference between rCBs and CBs is not elucidated. The characteristics of the rCBs produced from the steam pyrolysis of model laboratory-reinforced rubbers, with or without silica added, were analysed and compared to the pristine CB. X-Ray Diffraction revealed that the quantity of unorganised carbon in the rCB increased by about 25% after pyrolysis, revealing the occurrence of carbonaceous deposits originating from rubber carbonisation. They affected the filler texture, and part of the ultra-microporosity (i.e., pores within the diameter range 0.34–0.76 nm), which had a three-fold decrease in the rCB sample. The recovered fillers, with and without silica, had more oxygenated functional groups than the CB. The dispersibility and stability of the colloidal suspensions were affected by the increased surface oxygen functional groups. Reductive hydrogenation was utilised to remove the excess oxygen allowing an improved understanding of the rCBs. This is a promising method to maximise material reutilisation in the circular value chain of tyres.

In-situ constructing hybrid cross-linked networks in brominated butyl rubber via amphiphilic graphene oxide cross-linkers: Retaining excellent gas barrier and mechanical properties after fatigue

Rubber/graphene nanocomposites as gas barrier materials have attracted great interest in recent years. However, it is still a challenge to construct strong covalent interfaces between nonpolar rubber matrix and graphene for retaining excellent gas barrier and mechanical properties of aircraft tires after fatigue. In this work, hybrid cross-linked networks in brominated butyl rubber (BIIR) are first proposed and in-situ constructed successfully via introducing the amphiphilic graphene oxide cross-linkers (R-aGO). R-aGO can participate in the curing of BIIR to form hybrid cross-linked networks, which can force R-aGO to move with BIIR synchronously during fatigue deformation due to strong interfaces between BIIR and R-aGO via covalent bonds. When R-aGO content is 3 phr, the BIIR/R-aGO nanocomposites show a 27 % improvement in gas barrier property, a 230 % increase in strength at 40 % strain (suffered deformation of aircraft tires), and a 229 % enhancement in tensile strength relative to conventional BIIR/aGO nanocomposites with interfacial modifiers. More importantly, BIIR/R-aGO nanocomposites still retain excellent gas barrier and mechanical properties even after 500,000 load cycles (40 % strain). This work provides a novel route to fabricate rubber/graphene nanocomposites with superior gas barrier and mechanical properties, especially after fatigue.

Using carboxyl groups to improve the compatibility of XNBR/lignin composites

AbstractThe paper and pulp industry produces lignin as a byproduct, which could be a bio‐based reinforcing filler for rubber. Carboxylated nitrile rubber (XNBR) contains carboxyl groups that form ionic bonds with zinc oxide, potentially increasing compatibility with lignin, compared to usual nonpolar rubbers. This study employed the traditional mixing method, two‐roll mill, to incorporate hardwood Kraft lignin without chemical or physical modification as a reinforcing filler in commercial XNBR. A mixture design of experiments was used to explore the effect on rubber/lignin interaction of the carboxyl group content (from 1% to 7% in blends of XNBR) and the amount of lignin (from 0 to 40 phr). Adding 40 phr of lignin increased stress at 100% in XNBR 7% from 1.7 to 6.3 MPa. In XNBR 1%, the increase was from 1.2 to 1.9 MPa. Lignin showed better interaction and dispersion with XNBR 7%, determined from response surface of G′ at high deformations and SEM, respectively. Loss of thermal transition in DMA indicates interaction through ionic groups. These results show that the presence of carboxyl groups enhances the rubber/lignin interaction. This research open possibilities of compatibilization of lignin, offering guidance for future studies and technologies involving lignin in technical applications.Highlights Lignin dispersion increased as the carboxyl group content increased to 7% (w/w). Stress at 100% elongation increased 370% with 40 phr of lignin and 7% carboxyl. Rubber/lignin interaction as per G′ increased with carboxyl groups. Loss of thermal transition suggests lignin/carboxy/zinc oxide interaction. Lignin can be used as a reinforcing filler in nitrile carboxylated rubber.

Composition and technology effect on the structure and properties of frost-resistant elastomeric materials based on blends of polar and nonpolar rubbers

Elastomeric materials for sealing devices operated in the Far North, including the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), must be resistant to working environments and have frost and wear resistance with acceptable physical and mechanical properties. Some of the listed properties are mutually exclusive and are not always achievable in materials based on individual rubber. Thus, one promising method for sealing elastomeric materials is the use of rubber mixtures. In this study, model blends based on nitrile-butadiene (BNKS-18), butadiene (SKD), and isoprene (SKI-3) rubbers were studied. Nitrile butadiene rubber was chosen as the component of the mixture responsible for resistance to working environments, and diene rubbers (SKD and SKI-3) were chosen as the components responsible for frost resistance. The addition of SKI-3 also suppressed the crystallization of SKD butadiene rubber. An increase in the BNKS-18 content enhanced the physical and mechanical properties and resistance to wear and non-polar oils. A decrease in lowtemperature properties and resistance to polar oils was also observed. Additionally, studies of the structure of the obtained materials by atomic force microscopy were carried out, which proved the uniformity of the distribution of particles of the dispersed phase, the size of which did not exceed 1-5 μm. The optimal ratio of butadiene-nitrile to diene rubbers was 70:30 phr. At this ratio, the obtained elastomeric materials meet the requirements of sealing materials for operation in cold climates.

High‐damping ultralow−gel nonpolar elastomeric polymer through thiol−ene photo−click chemistry reaction

AbstractWith the increasing demand for high‐performance damping rubber material in various fields, improving the damping performance of existing nonpolar rubber has garnered tremendous scientific and industrial interest. However, it remains a long‐standing challenge to improve the damping properties of nonpolar rubber materials due to their low intrinsic glass transition temperature (Tg) and incompatible surface energy with high‐damping polar polymers or fillers. To solve this conundrum, ultra‐low gel multifunctional carboxy‐functional high vinyl polybutadiene HVBR (HVBR/COOH‐x%) was prepared by grafting 3‐mercaptopropionic acid (3PMA) onto HVBR via thiol−ene photo−click. The effects of reaction parameters including molecular weight, 1,2‐vinyl content, photoinitiators, reaction time, thiol and photoinitiator dosage on gel content and carboxyl grafting ratio were investigated. The HVBR/COOH‐x% demonstrate a controllable grafting ratio range from 2% to 73%. Furthermore, the increased Tg and intermolecular force resulted in excellent performance, including high‐glass transition temperature of 26.3°C, tensile strength of 15.52 MPa, and elongation at break of 396.16%. Particularly with a wide range of effective damping temperatures above 46.6°C. Meanwhile, COOH endowed the HVBR with better self‐viscosity, but also equipped it with stronger mutual viscosity. Therefore, this experiment proposes a feasible path to high damping and high adhesion in nonpolar rubber materials.

Preparation and performance of natural rubber latex treatment for silica filled natural rubber composites

AbstractNatural rubber latex filled with silica can be used to prepare low‐cost green tires with low rolling resistance. However, low mixing efficiency and reduction of properties have become the major difficulty in the industry, because there are many polar groups on the surface of silica, and it is difficult to produce a strong interaction with a nonpolar rubber. In this paper, natural rubber latex masterbatch with silica was prepared, and easily mixed with natural rubber (NR) to obtain NR/silica composites. The silica after NRL treated in the rubber matrix characterized with well dispersion, good compatibility with rubber, and composites had weaker Payne effect and higher wet‐skid resistance. Meanwhile, the 100% and 300% tensile modulus increased by 8.5% and 14.47%, respectively, notably decreasing heat build‐up by 41.88%, compared to the composite prepared by dry mixing technology. Overall, both the dispersion and interfacial adhesion of silica in the rubber matrix have a significant synergistic effect on the properties of rubber composites. The strategy of preparing NR/silica composites provides new research avenues for the preparation of green tires and other rubber industries in the future.

Effect of palm oil as plasticizer for compounding polar and non-polar rubber matrix reinforced carbon black composites

Effect of palm oil as plasticizer for compounding polar and non-polar rubber matrix reinforced carbon black composites

Tunable Van der Waals interfacial interaction for ultrahigh-damping rubber bends

High-damping rubber materials are of crucial significance for realizing high-performance green tire due to their contributions in noise and vibration reduction, auto-braking, and service life. However, the polarity difference and mismatched surface energy significantly reduce the interfacial interaction and compatibility between non-polar tread rubber materials and polar polymers. Herein, we fabricated a multi-functionalization high vinyl polybutadiene rubber (MFHVBR)/ethylene-vinyl acetate rubber (EVM) blend by simple mechanical blending. The incorporation of polar functional groups could increase the surface energy of MFHVBR, which was beneficial for regulating the interfacial compatibility and van der Waals interaction between non-polar rubber matrix and polar polymer matrix. A quantitative correspondence between van der Waals interaction and damping properties was determined. The optimized MFHVBR/EVM blends showed ultrahigh damping properties with an effective damping temperature range of −12.4–62.6 °C, which totally covered the service temperature of tires. The effective damping temperature range width of 75 °C was among the highest value of reported high-damping rubber materials. Meanwhile, the vulcanization efficiencies and physical mechanical properties were obviously improved. Collectively, the developed strategy herein and the proposed surface energy-performance relationship suggest a feasible pathway toward low-cost and high-performance green tire tread rubber materials.

Cardanol grafted onto liquid isoprene rubber like groud brothers hanging on the vine: A green plasticizer and compatibilizer

The silica (SiO2) dispersion and interfacial adhesions are two essential factors for preparing rubber/SiO2 composites with excellent mechanical properties. However, the dispersion of SiO2 in natural rubber is very poor. In this study, cardanol grafted liquid isoprene rubber (CA-g-LIR) with groud-like structure was applied to adjust the interfacial adhesion between SiO2 and natural rubber (NR). The properties of the obtained rubber composites were also investigated. The results of scanning electron microscope (SEM), Mooney Viscometer (MV) and rubber process analyzer (RPA) demonstrated that CA-g-LIR improved the dispersion of SiO2 in NR, reduced the Mooney viscosity of NR, prolonged the scorching time of NR and decreased the Payne effect of SiO2 in NR. Furthermore, the tensile strength of NR100/CA-g-LIR15/SiO2 composites are higher 26.67%, 13.25% and 18.42% than NR100/LIR15/SiO2 composites when the added SiO2 is 30, 40, 50 phr respectively. In short, CA-g-LIR was found to be a plasticizer and compatibilizer as well as an anti-coke agent. The potential application of CA-g-LIR could provide a simple and convenient green strategy for industry to solve the problem of poor dispersion of polar SiO2 in non-polar rubber.

Use of naturally small molecule as an intelligent interfacial modifier for strengthening and toughening silica-filled rubber composite

The incorporation of interfacial modifiers into silica-filled rubber composite is necessary to optimize the composite properties because abundant silanol groups on silica surface make it essentially incompatible with non-polar rubbers. The modification of silica-filled composites with the commonly used silanes generally causes many constraints such as excessive silane dosage, high temperature compounding, volatile organic compound emission, and loss of toughness of the composite. In this contribution, we reported the use of naturally small molecule thioctic acid (TA) as an intelligent interfacial modifier for silica-filled styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) composite. The carboxyl group of TA can interact with silica through hydrogen bonds, meanwhile the disulfide bond of TA can be cleaved to generate sulfur radicals and then couple with SBR macroradicals during compounding and curing, making TA a bridge between silica and SBR matrix. In the TA-modified composite, silica dispersion is greatly improved and hydrogen bond-mediated interface is constructed. When comparing with the most widely used bis-(γ-triethoxysilylpropyl)-tetrasulfide, TA-modified composites exhibit simultaneously improved strength, modulus, toughness and tear strength, which is on account of the reversible energy-dissipating mechanism of the hydrogen bond-mediated interfaces.

Impact of Placement of Aminopropyl Triethoxy Silane and Tetraethoxy Silicate on SSBR Chains: Analysis of Rolling Resistance, Wet Grip, and Abrasion Resistance

Solution styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and silica filler have attracted a significant attention because of their superior properties in cured rubber mixtures used in automobile tire industry. One of the challenges ahead of using these materials is the hard dispersion of silica with its polar surface in SBR nonpolar rubber. In the present study, the synthesis of styrene-butadiene rubber by solution polymerization method with polymer chain modification using copolymer functionalization was performed. For this purpose, two materials, namely, aminopropyl triethoxy silane (APTES) and tetraethoxy silicate (TEOS), were employed to improve the silica dispersion in the mixture. The results of postsynthesis structural tests show the successful placement of functional groups on the polymer chain. The results of mechanical, dynamic, and imaging analyses of the cured mixtures showed an improvement in the APTES-containing samples rolling resistance, wet surface grip, and abrasion resistance by 39%, 18%, and 17%, respectively, due to having stronger physical and chemical bonds with silica and also the usage of end agents in the polymer chain. The samples containing TEOS had also better results than the conventional SBR rubber. In addition, a sample containing emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber was prepared to compare its properties with those of the solution SBR. Another SBR sample containing silane coupling agent was also prepared to investigate its performance compared to that of the agents placed on the polymer chain. The abrasion resistance, rolling resistance, and wet grip of the coupling agent containing sample showed 2%, 10%, and 30% improvement, respectively, which were very close to those of the sample containing the TEOS agent. In this work, various techniques including, rheometry, wear, rolling, hardness, bound rubber content, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were employed to analyze the synthesized rubber.

Selectively Etched Halloysite Nanotubes as Performance Booster of Epoxidized Natural Rubber Composites.

Halloysite Nanotubes (HNT) are chemically similar to clay, which makes them incompatible with non-polar rubbers such as natural rubber (NR). Modification of NR into a polar rubber is of interest. In this work, Epoxidized Natural Rubber (ENR) was prepared in order to obtain a composite that could assure filler–matrix compatibility. However, the performance of this composite was still not satisfactory, so an alternative to the basic HNT filler was pursued. The surface area of HNT was further increased by etching with acid; the specific surface increased with treatment time. The FTIR spectra confirmed selective etching on the Al–OH surface of HNT with reduction in peak intensity in the regions 3750–3600 cm−1 and 825–725 cm−1, indicating decrease in Al–OH structures. The use of acid-treated HNT improved modulus, tensile strength, and tear strength of the filled composites. This was attributed to the filler–matrix interactions of acid-treated HNT with ENR. Further evidence was found from the Payne effect being reduced to 44.2% through acid treatment of the filler. As for the strain-induced crystallization (SIC) in the composites, the stress–strain curves correlated well with the degree of crystallinity observed from synchrotron wide-angle X-ray scattering.

Epoxidized polybutadiene rubber as an effective compatibilizer for acrylonitrile butadiene rubber and polybutadiene rubber blend

In the present study, epoxidized polybutadiene rubber (EBR; 30 mol% epoxidation) was synthesized using commercial-grade cis-polybutadiene rubber (BR). The EBR was successfully utilized as an effective compatibilizer between two incompatible elastomers, namely polar acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) and non-polar polybutadiene rubber (BR). The NBR and BR were blended in varied formulations and studied for morphological and mechanical properties. The observed properties of the blends containing EBR, as a compatibilizer, were compared with analogous blends without EBR. The optimum loading of EBR in NBR/BR formulations was found to be 5 phr (parts per hundred gram of rubber). The significant improvement in various mechanical properties such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, elongation at break and hardness were observed in presence of optimum loading of EBR in NBR/BR blends. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analyser (DMA) studies revealed that the compatibility between two incompatible rubbers improved in the presence of EBR. The results observed with EBR-compatibilized blends revealed that EBR can be used as an effective compatibilizer between two incompatible rubbers (NBR and BR).