Jung Won-Young, Cho Seong-Woo, Jang Keon-Soo
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, The University of Suwon, Hwaseong 18323, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Polymers (Basel). 2025 Aug 20;17(16):2250. doi: 10.3390/polym17162250.
This study investigates the influence of hybrid filler systems comprising carbon black (CB), mica, and surface-modified mica (SM) on the properties of ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM)/butadiene rubber (PB) composites. To reduce the environmental issues associated with CB, mica was incorporated as a partial substitute, and its compatibility with the rubber matrix was enhanced through surface modification using ureidopropyltrimethoxysilane (URE). The composites with hybrid filler systems and surface modification were evaluated in terms of curing behavior, crosslink density, mechanical and elastic properties, and dynamic viscoelasticity. Rheological analysis revealed that high mica loadings delayed vulcanization due to reduced thermal conductivity and accelerator adsorption, whereas SM composites maintained comparable curing performance. Swelling tests showed a reduction in crosslink density with increased unmodified mica content, while SM-filled samples improved the network density, confirming enhanced interfacial interaction. Mechanical testing demonstrated that the rubber compounds containing SM exhibited average improvements of 17% in tensile strength and 20% in toughness. In particular, the CB20/SM10 formulation achieved a well-balanced enhancement in tensile strength, elongation at break, and toughness, surpassing the performance of the CB-only system. Furthermore, rebound resilience and Tan δ analyses showed that low SM content reduced energy dissipation and improved elasticity, whereas excessive filler loadings led to increased hysteresis. The compression set results supported the thermal stability and recovery capacity of the SM-containing systems. Overall, the results demonstrated that the hybrid filler system incorporating URE-modified mica significantly enhanced filler dispersion and rubber-filler interaction, offering a sustainable and high-performance solution for elastomer composite applications.
本研究调查了由炭黑（CB）、云母和表面改性云母（SM）组成的混合填料体系对乙烯-丙烯-二烯单体（EPDM）/丁二烯橡胶（PB）复合材料性能的影响。为减少与CB相关的环境问题，引入云母作为部分替代品，并通过使用脲基丙基三甲氧基硅烷（URE）进行表面改性来增强其与橡胶基体的相容性。对具有混合填料体系和表面改性的复合材料进行了硫化行为、交联密度、机械和弹性性能以及动态粘弹性方面的评估。流变学分析表明，由于热导率降低和促进剂吸附减少，高云母含量会延迟硫化，而SM复合材料保持了相当的硫化性能。溶胀试验表明，未改性云母含量增加时交联密度降低，而SM填充样品提高了网络密度，证实了界面相互作用增强。机械测试表明，含有SM的橡胶混合物的拉伸强度平均提高了17%，韧性提高了20%。特别是，CB20/SM10配方在拉伸强度、断裂伸长率和韧性方面实现了平衡增强，超过了仅含CB的体系的性能。此外，回弹性和损耗因子（Tan δ）分析表明，低SM含量降低了能量耗散并提高了弹性，而过多的填料负载导致滞后增加。压缩永久变形结果支持了含SM体系的热稳定性和恢复能力。总体而言，结果表明，包含URE改性云母的混合填料体系显著增强了填料分散和橡胶-填料相互作用，为弹性体复合材料应用提供了一种可持续的高性能解决方案。
