Properties of fullerene‐containing natural rubber

Abstract

Abstract Addition of fullerene in concentration between 0.065 and 0.75 phr increases Schob elasticity, hardness, and modulus of NR‐based rubber. There is no substantial influence of fullerene on T g , tan δ, and G ‐modulus all evaluated by DMA at twisting within a temperature range −150 to −50°C (glassy state). At temperatures between 0 and 150°C (rubbery state) it is different, namely an increase in modulus and some changes in the slope of segments in G ( T ) curves were observed. It could be resulted from additional strong physical junctions of the rubber network. This suggests the growth of degradation energies of the branching junctions and related rise in the aging resistance as concentration of fullerene increases. Simultaneously, it could be expected some reduction of tire temperature at service. Because of this, introduction of fullerene could be reasonable for tread rubbers in case of reduction of its price. Permittivity and dielectric loss angle are correlated with fullerene concentration. Compounding technology when fullerene dispersed within carbon black is mixed with raw rubber on available machines could be easily implemented in the industry. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 390–398, 2006