Bernal-Ortega Pilar, Anyszka Rafal, di Ronza Raffaele, Aurisicchio Claudia, Blume Anke
Department of Mechanics of Solids, Surfaces & Systems (MS3), Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands.
Bridgestone EU NV/SA, Italian Branch-Technical Center, Via del Fosso del Salceto, 00128 Rome, Italy.
Polymers (Basel). 2025 May 22;17(11):1437. doi: 10.3390/polym17111437.
Passenger car tires (PCTs) usually consist of a silica/silane-filled Butadiene Rubber (BR) or Solution Styrene Butadiene (SSBR) tread compound. This system is widely used due to improvements observed in rolling resistance (RR) as well as wet grip compared to carbon black-filled compounds. However, the covalent bond that couples silica via silane with the rubber increases the challenge of recycling these products. Furthermore, this strong covalent bond is unable to reform once it is broken, leading to a deterioration in tire properties. This work aims to improve these negative aspects of silica-filled compounds by developing a novel coupling system based on non-covalent interactions, which exhibit a reversible feature. The formation of this new coupling was accomplished by reacting silica with silane and a phenolic resin in order to obtain simultaneous π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding. The reaction was performed using two different silanes (amino and epoxy silane) and an alkyl phenol-formaldehyde resin. The implementation of the new coupling resulted in improved crosslink density, better mechanical performance, superior fatigue behavior, and a similar rolling resistance indicator.
乘用车轮胎（PCT）通常由填充二氧化硅/硅烷的丁二烯橡胶（BR）或溶液聚合丁苯橡胶（SSBR）胎面胶组成。与填充炭黑的胶料相比，由于在滚动阻力（RR）以及湿地抓地力方面有明显改善，该体系得到了广泛应用。然而，通过硅烷将二氧化硅与橡胶连接起来的共价键增加了回收这些产品的难度。此外，这种强共价键一旦断裂就无法重新形成，导致轮胎性能下降。这项工作旨在通过开发一种基于非共价相互作用的新型偶联体系来改善填充二氧化硅胶料的这些负面问题，这种非共价相互作用具有可逆特性。这种新偶联的形成是通过使二氧化硅与硅烷和酚醛树脂反应来实现的，以便同时获得π-π相互作用和氢键。该反应使用了两种不同的硅烷（氨基硅烷和环氧硅烷）和一种烷基酚醛树脂。新偶联的应用导致交联密度提高、机械性能更好、疲劳性能优异以及滚动阻力指标相似。
