Solution-polymerized
styrene–butadiene rubber (SSBR) is
commonly used as rubber tread stock for high wet-skid resistance,
but SSBR suffers from shortcomings including high rolling resistance,
unsatisfied abrasion resistance, and fatigue resistance, which triggers
great research efforts in pursuing tread stock with balanced performances.
Herein, a facile strategy was proposed through introducing novel trans-1,4-poly(butadiene-co-isoprene) rubber (TBIR) into silica-filled SSBR composites.
The filler networks and rubber phase structures of SSBR/TBIR blends
were investigated in detail. It was found out that TBIR was responsible
for the depression of filler flocculation during annealing and vulcanization
processes, which will contribute to the improvements of filler dispersion
status in SSBR/TBIR vulcanizates. The covulcanization and compatibility
of the two domains in SSBR/TBIR blends were also investigated. Consequently,
the resultant SSBR/TBIR vulcanizates exhibit excellent integrated
properties. Furthermore, a possible mechanism analysis is proposed
to illustrate the contribution of TBIR.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.