Interactions of Elastomers and Reinforcing Fillers

Abstract

Abstract Use of reinforcing fillers in elastomers ranks as one of the two most important processes in rubber technology—only vulcanization can be considered to surpass it in its universal application. From the time of the earliest observations that certain pigments are capable of imparting reinforcement to natural rubber, particularly against wear, people have been concerned with interactions between filler surfaces and rubbers and their role in the mechanism of reinforcement. Progress, initially painfully slow, received a great boost about 30 years ago with the application of the electron microscope to establish the role of particle size. However, it very soon became apparent that particle size, while undoubtedly the single most important variable in rubber reinforcement, cannot account for all the effects of fillers in elastomers and that specific interactions between rubbers and fillers must also play an important part. Today the importance of these interactions is universally recognized, although much remains to be learned about the exact mechanisms by which they give rise to reinforcing effects.